Elephant Menace In Odisha: MLA Made To Do Walkathon By Irate Villagers | OTV News

Baripada: MLA Basanti Hembram from Karanjia on Friday confronted the ire of a gaggle of native residents in her constituency who reportedly pressured her to stroll for about 7 kilometres over wild elephant menace.
The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) legislator was taken to the village of the residents the place they confirmed her the damages of crops and homes attributable to the pachyderms who’ve been wreaking havoc in Dudhiani forest vary below Karanjia forest division since a month.
As per studies, the locals of Kada Modaka close to Karanjia in Mayurbhanj had blocked National Highway-220 demanding compensation for damages incurred by the wild tuskers.
Namita Nayak, a protesting lady mentioned, “We have blocked the road over the apathy of Forest Department towards our plight. A herd of 20 elephants have been destroying our crops, vegetations and homes since one month, but the forest department has turned a deaf ear on our complaints.”
Another native alleged that they’re but to obtain the compensation that was promised to them two years again when related incident had occurred.
“We have voted her to win from our constituency. It is her duty to address our genuine concerns. That is why we made her to walk with us to show the damage in our village.,” he added.
When the protest was underway, the agitators noticed the native MLA Hembram who was passing by way of the world in her carcade. The irate locals reportedly made her get down from her automobile and walked her for seven kilometers to their village to indicate her the damages to their crops and homes.
The locals alleged that the forest Ranger by no means addressed their concern concerning the elephants. Rather, the officer misbehaved with the villagers who approached him to complain in regards to the tuskers.
Sources mentioned, not solely the MLA, however the native Ranger, Saroj Panda and the ACF, Diganta Shovan Pal had been additionally made to stroll to their village.
Reacting to the allegations of the villagers, ACF, Pal mentioned, “We are continuously trying to ward off the elephants from the area and the accusations of misbehaviour by the Ranger is not true.”
“The locals are evidently unhappy over the elephants, so they made us to walk to see the condition of their village,” Pal added.
Meanwhile, Hembram refuted the claims that villagers pressured her to stroll and mentioned she walked with the protestors voluntarily to indicate solidarity with them. “If I wanted to move ahead towards my destination in my vehicle, I would have. But I decided to walk with the people of my constituency,” she mentioned.
It is value mentioning right here that, a herd of elephants from Jharkhand are constantly wreaking havoc in a number of areas of Mayurbhanj since 5 months, injuring many and at instances killing individuals too.
A person was killed by a tusker in final July in Keonjhara village below Jashipur block. Similarly, a person from Batagouda village below Badagaon Panchayat was critically injured in a reported tusker assault in final October.
(Edited By Ramakant Biswas)

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