Parvathipuram: High alert on elephant movement

Parvathipuram: The forest officials of Manyam district have sounded alert to sensitise locals regarding the movement of elephant in Artham village of Komarada mandal. The mandal has two railway gates and the herd is frequently crossing the gates and the forest officials have suspected the threat to the beasts and even informed the railway officials to be cautious at this area and loco pilots are advised to be more alert.

Recently, four elephants have been killed as they came in contacted with live wires and high power electric transformer.

Now, the forest officials are taking steps to protect the animals from several threats like trains and electric power.

On May 12, four elephants died on the spot in Katragadda village of Bhamini mandal. Keeping the heart wrenching incident in the mind, District Forest Officer GAP Prasuna alerted staff to monitor movement of elephants. She said that elephants are roaming in Peddhavalasa and Artham village limits of Komarada mandal and Elephant Monitoring unit (EMU) Forest Range Officer visited the spot.

The officials told to monitor elephant movement and to deal with villagers sensitively. Forest Department is requesting villagers not to obstruct the staff performing their duty. Forest department had been requesting the locals not to drive and threaten elephants using different modes. The wild elephants are very unpredictable and it might cause untoward incidents, Prasuna said. Villagers are creating problems and throwing bombs to drive the elephants.

If elephants get angry, controlling them will be difficult. DFO informed that since 2018, 10 human have been killed by elephants in Manyam district. So far the forest department paid crop compensations of Rs 2.16 crore and there are pending payments worth of Rs 28 lakhs, she added.