Marauding elephants force tribals to flee Odisha’s Kaliapani

Tired of repairing houses over and again after raiding elephants leave them damaged, all residents of a small tribal village have fled home and taken shelter in another village in Odisha’s Keonjhar district.

Tired of repairing houses over and again after raiding elephants leave them damaged, all residents of a small tribal village have fled home and taken shelter in another village in Odisha’s Keonjhar district.

The 11 households of Kaliapani village under Bansapal block have also lost their crops to marauding elephants. Though Kaliapani is equipped with concrete roads and solar power, villagers could not lead a normal life in the face of regular invasions by aggressive wild elephants. In the past one and a half years, all the villagers — one after another — have moved to the nearby Uppartangarpada village.

Also Read | Human deaths in man-elephant encounters in Odisha reach all-time high

“For past one and a half years, elephants have been regularly entering our village in search of rice and handia (local brewery). They damage houses extensively. We have failed to recover the losses caused by elephants. Elephant movement also pose a threat to our lives. Hence, we have decided to leave our village,” Kathia Sanangi said.

Currently, Keonjhar district has 130 wild elephants. They often stray into human habitations in search of food.

Acknowledging the great number of human-elephant encounters in Keonjhar, its Divisional Forest Officer Dhanraj Hanumant Dhamdhere said, “On our part, we keep chasing elephant herds day in and day out. Our system has been made so robust that the department can give the exact location of elephant herds in Keonjhar.”

Mr. Dhamdhere said the veracity of tribal residents leaving their villages due to elephant raids was being ascertained.