Villagers stage stir with poison bottles to end jumbo menace

By Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Mysuru: Villagers of Madhuvinahalli in Nanjangud taluk are staging a dharna in front of the forest office in the town with poison bottles to protest against the failure of the department to check the wild jumbo menace.

Earlier, two jumbos were seen roaming freely on the roads of Penjalli village in Hunsur taluk of Mysuru for 10 days terrifying people. With no action forthcoming from the department to nab the wild pachyderms, the villagers decided to go on a dharna seeking a permanent solution to the elephant menace. They claimed that crops grown on the edge of forests were destroyed by the elephants causing huge loss to farmers.

The menace has increased in the last three days with iron railings put up by the department to prevent the jumbos from crossing the forests to enter human habitats also broken. Elephants are now entering farms through these broken railings and so they have no option but end their lives, the villagers claimed adding that life has become miserable for those living in the forests due to frequent raids by the jumbos.