Tusker kills one, four injured

Jharsuguda:�A 55-year-old lady was killed by a tusker on Thursday midnight at Chandimal Village of Kirmira Block under Jharsuguda District. The deceased was identified as Kanaka Bhainsa (55).

In this incident four members of the same family had also been injured. The injured were identified as Dileshwar Bhaisna (58), Sunil Kumar Bhainsa (23), Anil Bhainsa (18) and Tushar Sandh (16).

�I was sleeping at night and don�t know from where the elephant came and pushed the wall which fell over us, I was completely senseless, My eldest son had come and took me out from the debris but when my wife (Kanaka Bhainsa) saw that my son was unable to remove the debris then she came out of the house to call my neighbor without knowing that elephant was present at the neighbor�s house and was eating paddy kept inside the bag and had killed her.� said Dileshwar Bhainsa

Following this incident, the Villagers of Chandimal had gheraoed the Bagdehi forest range office for nearly 2 hours and blamed that forest officials for not responding on time and demanded 10Lacs compensation for the deceased.

But after the interference of Jharsuguda Forest Range Officer and Asst. Conservator of Forest Basil Barla the protestors had called of the Gherao.

Himanshu Shekar Muduli, Jharsuguda Forest Range Officer said that, �One month back, some elephants had entered into Bagdehi Forest range which was been sent back to Sundergarh among which one tusker somehow remained and�On Thursday�night, the same tusker got tied within the wires meant for drying of clothes at one of the house. Due to which the incident took place. We have provided Rs. 5,000 compensation immediately and assured that if the family members will provide the post mortem report and other related documents on time then the compensation of Rs. 2 Lacs as per the govt. will be given within two weeks.�