Irate villagers block NH 209 with wooden logs

Chamarajanagar: A seventy-year-old woman was trampled to death by wild elephants at Mahantalpura village in Chamarajanagar taluk last evening. The incident came to light this morning when the villagers saw the dead body. As the news spread like wild fire, the enraged villagers blocked the National Highway 209 that cuts through the village.

The deceased woman is Shivamma and she had ventured out of the house at 6 pm to attend the nature’s call. Yesterday, three elephants (a tusker, a female and a calf) entered Hasanakatte near Mangala village and had created panic among villagers and destroyed their standing crops.  The elephants were later sighted behind the Sericulture Department building at Hasanakatte and the Forest staff led by In-charge RFO Mahadevaiah burst crackers to drive the elephants back to the forest.

Instead, the panicked elephants ran helter-skelter and entered a sugarcane field at Singanapura near Mangala village. Forest officials said that the herd might have trampled Shivamma who was caught on its way.

Yesterday, as it had become dark, the Department staff had to stop their operation and resumed the drive this morning to drive the elephants to Biligirirangana Hill but the elephants have stayed put near Mahantalpura.

Following Shivamma’s death, irate villagers blocked National Highway 209 and staged a protest disrupting traffic for more than an hour. Villagers had brought hundreds of wooden logs and placed them on roads, blocking traffic.

Biligirirangana Tiger Reserve Conservator of Forests Dr. Shankar, ACF Nagaraju, Tahsildar Purandara, ZP Member C.N. Balaraj, former ZP President Nagashree and farmer leader Channabasappa met the protesters and convinced them to withdraw protest. The protesters also demanded the DC and the District Minister to come to the spot.

They demanded compensation to Shivamma’s family and to the farmers who have suffered crop loss as the wild elephants had destroyed them.

Meanwhile, a herd of wild elephants from Chikkadevammanabetta Forest in Saragur Forest Range in H.D. Kote taluk entered into the agricultural fields at Muddanahalli, Katoor, Basapura, Allayannapura, Lanke and other villages, destroyed crops and have entered into a banana plantation at Nayakanahundi.

Forest officials are trying to drive back the herd back into the forest. The elephants have destroyed standing crops worth lakhs of rupees and the villages have demanded compensation for the crop loss.