Elephant attacks claim 4 lives across CG in 30 hrs

Raipur: With two more deaths in human-elephant conflict, four people were killed in separate elephant attacks across northern Chhattisgarh within a span of about 30 hours, indicating continuous threat in forest-fringe districts of the state.The latest incident was reported from Balrampur district on Tuesday morning, where an elderly couple was trampled to death by a lone tusker while walking towards a nearby forest.The victims, identified as Juthan Gond (65) and his wife Sundari Bai (56), were residents of Bandhpara in Kundi village in the Rajpur forest range. According to forest officials, the couple had left home around 5 am and were about 200 metres away when they encountered a tusker.Officials said the elephant suddenly charged at them. The couple tried to flee, but the elephant chased and trampled them, killing both on the spot.The attack came barely a day after two road construction workers were killed by another tusker in Koriya district’s Sonhat forest range, inside the Guru Ghasidas-Tamor Pingla tiger reserve landscape.The workers who were engaged in a road construction project between Ramgarh and Kotadol and were sleeping late Sunday when the elephant attacked.Officials in both districts said the attacks were carried out by solitary tuskers that had reportedly separated from larger elephant herds moving through the area.In Balrampur, forest officials said a herd of five elephants has been moving through the Kalyanpur forest area, and one tusker had strayed towards Kundi village before the attack.In Koriya, an elephant that reportedly got separated from a herd of eight animals roaming in the tiger reserve area is suspected to be responsible for the deaths of the two workers.Forest officials said that they have stepped up monitoring and launched awareness drives in affected villages, warning residents against venturing into forest areas during early morning and late evening hours when elephant activity is generally higher.Teams have been deployed to track the movement of the animals and alert villagers through public announcements and direct outreach.Forest department officials provided immediate financial assistance of Rs 25,000 each to the families of the deceased couple in Balrampur and said further compensation would be processed as per government norms.