Jharkhand: Jumbo kills 16 people in 12 days

A tusker has allegedly killed 16 people in five Jharkhand districts in the past 12 days with four in a block in Ranchi district alone on Tuesday forest officials saidThis has prompted the Ranchi administration to impose prohibitory order under Section 144 Cr PC in Itki block prohibiting gathering more than five people to restrict further casualties Ranchi divisional forest officer Srikant Verma saidVillagers of Itki block have been asked to remain inside their houses specially during sunrise and sunset They have also been asked not to go close any elephant he saidVillagers are gathering near the elephant which caused one death today In a bid to stop them Section 144 Cr PC has been imposed by Ranchi administration in Itki block today Verma told PTIThe forest department is taking all possible steps including engaging an expert team from West Bengal to tackle the elephant which is suspected to have killed 16 people in Hazaribag Ramgarh Chatra Lohardaga and Ranchi districts in the past 12 days the principal chief conservator of forest wildlife Sasikar Samanta saidWe have constituted a committee comprising forest officers of four divisions and headed by the Ranchi conservator of forest The committee will determine if the same elephant has killed all the 16 people If the committee certifies it we will take a decision in a day or two he told PTI It seems that the elephant is behaving abruptly The committee will examine if the elephant is deliberately killing people or the people are themselves responsible for their death Samanta saidThe elephant had reportedly trampled to death four persons including two women in Lohardaga district on Monday and one on Sunday It appeared to have entered Ranchis Itki block about 25 km from the capital city on Monday night and reportedly killed four persons including two women and injured one on Tuesday morning Verma saidAlso read Bihar Dy CM Tejashwi Yadav advocates for castebased survey in JharkhandThe Ranchi DFO said that it is suspected that the same elephant killed five people in Hazaribag about 12 days ago and then moved to Ramgarh where it trampled to death person one in Gola area The animal then allegedly moved on to Chatra and killed another person We are examining the photographs and other aspects to determine if it is the same elephant he saidLohardaga divisional forest officer DFO Arvind Kumar had told PTI that an expert team from Bankura district of West Bengal was engaged to drive away the tusker deep into the forest Asked he said there are various methods to identify an elephant We have a tracking system in which every district gives an input on elephant movement in their respective areas Besides we also have photos and videos of the jumbos This elephant has tusks and the one which caused casualties in Hazaribagh Lohardagga and Ranchi is also a tusker We will match the height and other parameters to determine whether it is the same one he addedA forest department official said that an immediate relief of Rs 25000 is being given to the kin of each of the deceased Rs 375 lakh compensation will be provided to each victims family after completing the mandatory government proceduresManelephant conflicts have spiked in Jharkhand with reports stating that 133 people have died in jumbo attacks in 202122 a steep climb from 84 in 202021The union ministry of environment forest and climate in reply to a RTI application recently stated that 462 people have died in manelephant conflicts in five years since 2017 in Jharkhand including 133 in 202122This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever