NEW DELHI, Feb 22: A 55-year-old former sarpanch of Tukudand village suffering from physical disabilities was trampled to death by some wild elephants on a forest road in Surajpur district in Chhattisgarh.
Forest department officials said Dhana along with another person were returning to their village in a car through the forest road on Monday evening when the vehicle broke down. They were pushing the vehicle when they spotted a wild elephant. The person accompanying Dhana managed to flee but the disabled former sarpanch could not and was killed by the animal, forest official said. The state government paid an immediate relief of ₹ 25,000 to the family members while the remaining ₹ 5.75 lakh would be disbursed post legal formalities,” the official said.
Surajpur, a neighbouring district of Korba, is located over 300 kilometres from state capital Raipur. Districts like Surguja, Raigarh, Korba, Surajpur, Mahasamund, Dhamtari, Gariaband, Balod, Balrampur and Kanker have been facing incidents of man-animal conflicts of this nature for over a decade now. According to the forest department, 195 people were killed in elephant attacks and 43 jumbos died in Chhattisgarh between January, 2019 and November last year.
(Manas Dasgupta)