Telangana: Rogue elephant tramples to death another farmer

Kumram Bheem Asifabad: The rogue elephant found in the fields near Burepalli village, trampled another farmer to death early on Thursday morning. The second kill by the pachyderm in the last 24 hours, has escalated panic in surrounding villages and a visible tension enveloped the the entire Chitalamanepalli mandal.

The tusker attaked Karu Poshanna (55), who was watering paddy crop in his fields around 5 a.m. His death was instant, as was the case in earlier instance in the same village. The earlier victim was Alluri Shankar (50), who was also in fields when the elephant attacked him.

Officials are sounding a general alert, as the elephant was now moving towards Sulugupalli village in the adjacent Bejjur mandal. Panic-stricken villagers have appealed to Forest department officials to ensure that that the elephant is driven away from the farms into the forest to prevent further attacks.

Teams of officials from the Forest, Police and Revenue departments have fanned out into surrounding villages which are in the path of the pachyderm moving aimlessly. Villagers were asked to remain indoors till further instructions. The publicity was carried out extensively in all adjacent habitations over the movement of the tusker.

Official teams have proccured large number of crackers in the belief that bursting crackers could scare away the wild elephant.

Telangnaa Forest officials were told by their counterparts in neighbouring Maharashtra state that an elephant herd had entered Gadchiroli forest three days ago and this elephant got separated from the herd and strayed into Telangana forest areas after crossing River Pranahita.

In the earlier instane, the Government had announced a compensation Rs 10 lakh to the family of Alluri Shankar.