But this time the relief camps are not for victims of riots. The relief camps have come up because in the last two months, elephants have been running riot.
The relief camps are back in Kandhamal, which witnessed a series of clashes between Hindus and Christians following the killing of VHP seer Laxmanananda Saraswati in August last year.
But this time the relief camps are not for victims of riots. The relief camps have come up because in the last two months, elephants have been running riot. The elephants move from their dense forests to human habitats looking for food, particularly paddy, country-liquor made of mahua flower and mango-pickle. Some of the tuskers have migrated from Lakhary valley sanctuary in Gajapati. They frequent the villages in Kandhamal in search of paddy and country liquor stored by farmers in their small cottages.
But at times they go berserk. In the last seven months they have trampled 10 people in Kandhamal alone. To save people from the marauding elephants, the administration has asked farmers to hide paddy underground. “The people should dig 3-4 ft deep trenches inside their house and keep the paddy in a container underground. Elephants cannot dig,” Ramesh Chandra Sethi, divisional forest officer of Baliguda, said. He also asked them to keep liquor in a safe place.
Such is the fear of elephants that people are staying awake all night by lighting a bonfire. They have been provided kerosene and tyres for the purpose. Shankar Pradhan, whose mother Sinduri Pradhan (65) was trampled to death by elephants last week, said he never wanted to return to the relief camp. But he was forced to because of the elephant menace.
Villagers from the dense forest areas have moved to five relief camps in Kandhamal. Also, 10 expert units have been put into service to ward off the elephants. “The district administration opened the camps to provide shelter to those affected by the elephants,” district collector Kishan Kumar said. The victims will also get compensation at the camps. So far the administration has paid Rs9.78 lakh to 384 people. Another hundreds would be given allowances under the ‘mo kudia’ (my cottage) scheme. The elephants have so far destroyed over 500 mud houses.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}