Trapped by crowd, jumbos chase - Bystanders do not free highway, herd lingers

The herd of elephants at Meghnad Saha Nagar in Madarihat on Wednesday.
Picture by Anirban Choudhury

TT, Alipurduar, June 17: A herd of nine elephants entered a residential area near Jaldapara National Park early this morning and was lingering there till late evening as onlookers would not free the path that elephants take to enter the Jaldapara forest.

No one was injured when elephants chased some of the residents.

Till late this evening, the herd was in the small forest near Meghnad Saha Nagar, which is 50km from Alipurduar town and near Jaldapara, where the elephants were probably headed.

Bhashkar J.V., the divisional forest officer of Jaldapara wildlife division, said: "Our staff tried several times to send the herd to Jaldapara but because of the mob, they failed. We will try to drive the herd into Jaldapara later in the evening."

A source said that around 6am today, residents saw the herd in the small forested patch near Meghnad Saha Nagar in Madarihat.

Foresters from the Jaldapara north range, the Madarihat police and the assistant wildlife warden of Jaldapara reached the locality in half an hour after getting information that a herd had been spotted.

The villages and small towns in the Dooars are surrounded by forests and it is common for elephants to come out of one wooded area and walk into another.

The elephants had come out of Dhumchi forest last night and were headed towards Jaldapara. It seems that for some reason, they stayed back in the small forested patch near Meghnad Saha Nagar.

Around 1,000 people had gathered in the locality after seeing the elephants in the morning and started shouting when the elephants were munching grass and leaves.

The herd then started chasing people, some of who had gone close to the animals.

The foresters fired crackers to scare the jumbos and managed to send the herd back into the small forest.

But the elephants returned because of the noise and commotion caused by the local people.

This happened several times. The herd came out of the small forest more than eight times and chased people.

Subhash Das, the upa-pradhan of Madarihat gram panchayat, said: "The local people were making it difficult for the foresters to drive the herd into Jaldapara through NH31C. The path which the elephants were supposed to follow to reach Jaldapara forest was blocked by local people and they refused to budge from the road despite repeated pleas by the police and foresters."

He said: "We have never seen elephants in this area during day time. During the night, elephants come to the area. When the elephants chased the mob, around four to five boys fell on the road but luckily escaped."

Uttam Saha, a youth who fell while being chased by the herd, said: "I had gone to see the elephants from a close distance when they turned around and started chasing us. We all started running. When someone pushed me from behind, I fell into a roadside ditch and saw the elephants crossing me."