Koraput: The promised compensation amount of Rs.1 lakh each for the two children and a tribal woman who were killed by elephants a few days ago was released on Monday by the chief wildlife warden of the State. This was announced by Abhaykant Pathak, the conservator of forests at Koraput. The amount would be handed over to their family members on Tuesday, he said.

The elephants are now heading towards their original habitat in the Karlapad Sanctuary in Kalahandi district. Nine elephants were in the sugarcane field near Gunjriguda under Borigumma forest zone on Monday and forest officials, present in the four camps were guiding their direction towards the sanctuary, he said.

The elephants had two babies with them for which they too were furious at any disturbance near them which had caused the accidents in the recent past. The elephants had missed their original track in the regular route of their annual migration from Karlapad sanctuary in Kalahandi to Lakhari Valley Sanctuary in Gajapati district via Kotagarh Sanctuary of Phulbani and had rather entered Dasamantpur region in Koraput district, he said. Since then they were roaming in the region for the good amount of food available, both in the forest and field.

Safety measures

The route from the present position to Karlapad has a very thin forest cover with good crop of sugarcane in the field. But, to avoid any loss to the lives and property, specially trained personnel from Bolangir have been called, he said. Moreover the villagers were given crackers under the supervision of camping officials at the site. Further, the department also speeded up its move to assess the damage and people should cooperate with officials in doing the assessment so as to compensate the loss at the earliest, he said.

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