Wild elephant attack claims 7 lives within two days
Jashpur | Correspondent: Seven people have been killed due to violent elephant encounters within two days in Chhattisgarh.
Four people lost their lives in a wild elephant attack in Jashpur late on Friday night.
Three of them were from the same family.
Earlier, an elephant had trampled three women to death.
According to the villagers, the elephant on Friday night attacked villager Ramkeshwar Soni’s house
which is located on DAV School Road in Gamharia, within nagar panchayat Bagicha.
35-year-old Ramkeshwar Soni, his 9-year-old daughter Ravita Soni, and his younger brother Ajay Soni of 25-year-old died on the spot.
The 28-year-old neighbor Ashwini Kujur, who stepped out of the house after hearing the noise of the tusker attack, was also trampled to death by the elephant.
The time when elephant attacked, village was out of electricity.
Jashpur is Chhattisgarh Chief Minsiter Vishnu Deo Sai’s home district.
Three women fatally trampled
A day before, three women were crushed to death by a tusker elephant.
According to the police officials, an tusker from the Pantora jungle of Janjgir-Champa had entered Naraibodh village of Korba district early in the morning.
It lifted an older woman, Gayatri Bai, who had come out for a walk in the village, with its trunk and then threw her to the ground.
The woman later died in the hospital.
Later that night, two other women were crushed to death.
The women were identified as wife and sister to Mantra Ram Chauhan, a resident of Khairbhawna village
Mines driving elephant to wander
Incidents of human-elephant conflict have been steadily rising in Chhattisgarh.
Experts attribute this increase to the disruption of elephant habitats caused by coal mining in the state’s dense forest areas, including Hasdeo Aranya.
Previously, under the Supreme Court’s instructions, the Wildlife Institute of India conducted a study in Hasdeo.
The Institute had issued a warning that opening even a single new coal mine in Hasdeo could escalate the conflict to such a degree that it would be impossible to control.
Despite this warning, the approval process for new Adani MDO coal mines in Hasdeo Aranya continues.
