Tribal trampled to death; villagers vandalise forest dept vehicle

Shyam Sundar Vattam
Mysuru

A tribal was trampled to death in a tribal settlement in H.D. Kote taluk of Mysuru District on Thursday near Anemala Haad in D.B.Kuppe in the taluk. The deceased has been identified as Putta (65). He along with his friend were returning home after work when the wild tusker attacked them. His friend escaped and fled to the village to inform others about the incident. By the time the villagers reached the spot, the jumbo had trampled Putta to death.

On receipt of information, HD Kote MLA Anil Chikmadu reached the hospital and took officers of the Forest Department to task for not taking steps to mitigate the manelephant conflict in the taluk. He said there have been repeated attacks of wild animals on people living in the fringes of forests.

The department officers were asked to give a job each to a member of the deceased person’s family on humanitarian grounds. Deputy Conservator of Forests Mahesh Kumar handed over a cheque of Rs 2 lakh and promised to release another Rs 5 lakh in instalments. Besides, the family would be given a monthly solatium of Rs 2000.

The irate villagers of Hundipura in Gundlupet taluk of Mysuru district deflated the tyre of a forest department vehicle protesting against the failure of the department to check the menace of wild elephants. They complained that a herd of elephants have been raiding fields and damaged banana and coconut plantation for the last 15 days.

On Wednesday, the pachyderms attacked the farm house of two farmers,Ravi & Kumar and damaged coconut saplings, the solar fence, the iron gate and the banana plantation. The jeep of Range Forest Officer of Kundakere Range in Bandipur Tiger Reserve, Srinivas who came to the village to placate the agitating farmers, was deflated.

Later, Range Forest Officer of Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta Naveenkumar, Assistant Conservator Of Forests Ravindra and Gundlupet Police Station Sub-Inspector Sujatha reached the spot and pacified the villagers. Ravindra promised to post forest guards to check the entry of wild jumbo