Two villagers killed by elephants in Sambalpur's Ushakothi sanctuary

Sambalpur: Two persons were trampled to death by a herd of 10 elephants in Kutab village under Ushakothi Wildlife Sanctuary in Sambalpur district late on Monday night.The deceased have been identified as Gangaram Patel, 62, of Kutab, and Pradeep Ghatual, 45, of Jujumura.

Forest officials said that both had gone to their paddy fields to guard their crops from wild animals when the elephant herd entered the area.In an attempt to chase the elephants away, the duo went too close and were attacked. Both sustained fatal injuries and died on the spot. Their bodies were later recovered by villagers who informed forest officials and police.Following the deaths, villagers staged a protest with the bodies on Tuesday morning, demanding a permanent solution to the growing human-elephant conflict and a separate corridor for the movement of elephants inside the sanctuary.Bamra divisional forest officer (DFO), Bikram Dev Pattanaik, told TOI, “There are 27 villages within Usakothi sanctuary. We have repeatedly warned people not to go near the elephants. Our staff have been deployed to drive the herds away, but unfortunately, the deceased tried to protect their crops on their own and got attacked.”He added that ex gratia of Rs 10 lakh each will be provided to families of the deceased.Giridhari Pradhan, Badrama range officer, said, “We have pacified the agitating villagers and assured them of necessary measures to curb such incidents in the future. The bodies have been sent to Kuchinda sub-divisional hospital for postmortem. Procedures have started to sanction 10% of the ex gratia amount immediately.”