Raipur: About a hundred families in Chhattisgarh's Jashpur district have not slept since Sunday after a group of wild elephants sneaked into villages from a nearby forest, officials said Wednesday.
Some 20 families have migrated temporarily to safer areas after five villagers were injured on Tuesday while chasing away the jumbos from Sargawa and Chilma villages, some 420 km north of state capital Raipur.
Man-elephant conflicts have been a menace for over a decade in the state's northern region comprising Surguja, Jashpur, Koria, Korba and Raigarh districts. Officials admit that some 30 people have been killed by rampaging wild elephants this year alone in the state.
Officials say that the state government is desperate to find a long-term solution to the man-elephant conflict. It is willing to work on a proposal by Earth Matters Foundation, an NGO, which has suggested the setting up of elephant villages in trouble-hit areas to help keep the wild jumbos away from civilian forested pockets.
IANS
First Published: Wednesday, September 16, 2009, 10:37