Assam: Herd of wild elephants reign terror in Samaguri; destroy house and paddy fields

A herd of nearly a hundred wild elephants caused a ruckus on November 20 due to which the house of one Maghi Saikia in Puranigudam, Samaguri under Nagaon district was flattened to the ground and his farmhouse completely destroyed.

Upon hearing the huge herd of elephants advancing towards his house, Saikia immediately made a run for his life, leaving all his belongings. However, after returning back in the morning, he found the mangled remains of his house.

Locals alleged that forest officials from the Nagaon Sadar regional forest officer office were not present at the spot even after knowing the area was frequented by wild elephants on a regular basis and causing terror.

The locals have expressed their anger against the forest department for not taking any action against such unfortunate incidents. 

It is not the first time that the area has witnessed incidents of man-elephant conflict. Earlier too many wild elephants have caused havoc in the region, causing widespread damages and even death while trying to escape elephant attack.

In a similar case, wild jumbos raided a human settlement on November 17 and destroyed Anganwadi Centre in the Goalpara district.

The wild elephants had come out of the forest in search of food and broke the Hajongpara Anganwadi centre in the east hills of West Matia in Goalpara district. 

As per reports, the Anganwadi center was completely destroyed as these jumbos created a nuisance.

Two days ago, a wild elephant herd had killed the mother and son in Matia and later a government pig farm was demolished and ransacked by them. 

On November 1, hundreds of paddy fields in the Numaligarh area of Assam’s Golaghat district were severely damaged after a herd of elephants from the Morongi area attacked the fields.

Farmers in the affected areas had claimed that they suffered significant losses as a result of the destruction of paddy fields and other plantations as some elephants allegedly attacked the fields, causing huge losses to them.

The normal life of Teliya Gaon, Miripathaar, Dholakachari, Purajanghal, Folongi, Habigaon, Udayan, Akhoifutia, Harorgaon, Haldhibari are being heavily affected owing to the nuisance caused by the elephant herds over a month.