GUWAHATI, NOV 13: A 48-years-old man was trampled to death by a wild elephant at Abhaypur village under Namrup police station in Dibrugarh district of Assam on Saturday evening.
The deceased has been identified as Nandeswar Gogoi.
According to reports, Nandeswar Gogoi was returning from Namrup market at around 9 pm when he encounter with a wild elephant on the road, he was chased by the elephant and later trampled him to death.
Locals said the elephants strayed out of the Joypur reserve forest in search of food and entered into human habitation.
“We are helpless because the most of the times, the wild elephant comes out from the Joypur reserve forest in search of food and entered into our villages. We have urged the forest department to take step to stop the depredation of wild elephants,” said a villager.
The elephants from Joypur reserve forest frequently move to Assam-Arunachal border and its be periphery.
Talking to media persons, the deceased’s brother has requested the Assam government to give the victim’s family compensation and to take the responsibility of educating the children.
“Man-elephant conflict has been rising rapidly due to shrinking of forest cover. We urged the government to solve the problem,” he said.
Devojit Moran, environmental activist said, “Due to to shrinking of forest cover man-elephant conflict has been rising. The forest department should work in coordination with villagers to stop the conflict. The wild elephants frequently entered villages in search of food during winter season. Most of the times, the elephant herd destroyed crop field and the poor farmer tried different techniques to stop the elephant depredation which resulted in conflict.”
Pushpadhar Buragohain, Range officer of Jeypore said, “We have sent the body for post mortem. As procedure, the family will get compensation. The elephant comes out from Jeypore reserve forest which is adjacent to the village.”