A group of nine elephants, which had been active in Pratappur forest area for a long time, moved towards Balrampur district, where 35 elephants have camped in the forests adjacent to the rural areas. These elephants have become a big problem for the villagers of the affected area. These 35 elephants are continuously roaming in the forest adjacent to the villages of Karanjwar, Parvatipur, Kenwara, Pandopara of the forest area and Singhara, Bharda etc. of Dharampur forest area. Due to the presence of such a large number of elephants, fear is being seen among the villagers of the concerned areas.
Elephants are continuously engaged in damaging the standing crops of paddy and sugarcane. However, the Forest Department is continuously monitoring these elephants. The joint team of Forest Department and members of Hathi Mitra Dal is working hard to stop elephants from moving towards rural settlements. Still, the villagers, who are worried about their safety due to the fear of elephants, are forced to stay awake all night after working hard all day. Even on Wednesday, the presence of these thirty-five elephants remained in the forest around the Food Corporation of India (FCI) warehouse of Karanjwar, located about five kilometers from the residential area of Pratappur.
After evening, the elephants descended into the Gharhari river near Karanjwar, drank water and started moving towards Singhra via Sarhari. Meanwhile, as a precautionary measure, the joint team had closed the Sarhari-Singhra forest road and banned the movement of pedestrians. When every effort was made to stop the elephants inside the forest using search lights, sirens and loud noises, the elephants did not go towards Singhra but went towards Bharda. Where the standing crops of paddy and sugarcane in the fields located in Pendarpara were severely damaged. Let us tell you that the continuous presence of elephants in Pratappur forest area for decades has taken away the happiness and peace of the villagers. The aggression of elephants has led to untimely death of dozens of villagers. Dozens of villagers have also been injured. Elephants have damaged hundreds of houses. Till now, crops grown in thousands of acres of land have also been caused tremendous damage.
Know how much is the compensation fixed against the damage-
According to the new order issued by the Secretary of Forest Department, Government of Chhattisgarh on June 12, 2015, in case of death of a human being due to attack by an elephant or any other violent wild animal, Rs. 6 lakh, in case of permanent disability, Rs. 2 lakh, in case of serious injury, Rs. There is a provision to give compensation of Rs 59 thousand hundred and Rs 30 thousand in case of death of cattle.
According to the new order issued on June 28, 2016 by the Under Secretary of Forest Department, Government of Chhattisgarh, for 25 percent damage to a kutcha house built in a general area by an elephant or any violent wild animal, Rs 23800, for 50 percent Rs 47600, for 75 percent Rs 71400 and There is a provision to give compensation of Rs 95100 in case of 100 percent damage. And a provision has been made to give Rs 25500 to kutcha houses built in hilly areas if they are damaged by 25 per cent, Rs 51000 if they are 50 per cent, Rs 76400 if they are 75 per cent damaged and Rs 1 lakh one thousand nine hundred if they are 100 per cent damaged.
Apart from this, a provision has also been made to give compensation amount in case of damage to pucca houses by elephant or predatory wild animal, but in this, 0.1 percent less compensation amount is given as compared to the compensation amount mentioned for kutcha houses. Apart from this, a provision has been made to give compensation amount of Rs 22239 per hectare in case of crop damage caused by wild animals.