Wild elephants damage farmlands, orchards

A herd of wild elephants from Meghalaya state of India damaged croplands and three orchards at Makhonerchar village in Dewanganj upazila on Monday and the day before.
Locals said about 40 to 50 elephants stormed the village at around 7:30pm on Sunday and damaged wheat and mustard fields, seedbeds, mango and plum orchards in a couple of hours.
The affected orchard owners are Nuruzzaman of Makhonerchar village, Shatil and Swapan Mia of Bagharchar village in the upazila.
Villagers managed to drive away the animals around 1:00am by setting fire, beating drums and tins, said Lutfar Rahman, a member of Dangdhora Union Parishad.
Swapan Mia of neighbouring Bagharchar village said the wild elephants damaged his plum orchard on four bighas of land.
Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Saiful Islam said some solar panels would be supplied to some villagers of the border area soon as a preventive measure.
To find a way out for permanent solution to the problem, a delegate of the district administration, headed by Deputy Commissioner Shahabuddin Khan, yesterday went to Tura district of Meghalaya for holding a meeting with the district magistrate there, said the UNO.  
Last month, people of the area faced similar attack by elephants for at least 11 times, said Abdur Rashid Mondol, chairman of the union parishad.