Wild elephants continue rampage in Jamalpur

A herd of 30/40 wild elephants coming down from Garo hills of India's Meghalaya state have been continuing to damage crops at Makhonerchar village under Dewanganj upazila of the district since Monday night.

In four days, the herd damaged crops on around 98 bighas of land belonging to at least 50 farmers of the village.

Sixty 60 bighas of wheat, 30 bighas of mustard and 8 bighas of pulse have already been damaged, said Lutfor Rahman, member of the union parishad and a resident.

"Shahid Zaman, Abdur Razzak, Meher Ali, Rahim Miah and I are the worst victims," said Nuruzzaman adding that his 8 bighas of wheat were completely damaged.

Villagers had to pass sleepless nights as they tried to drive away the herd by lighting fire, beating drums and creating loud sounds till 3:00am, said Lutfor.

"Local administration has provided four generators to light up the area so that the elephants would fear entering the village. But it is not enough…we need a permanent solution," he stressed.

Contacted, Saiful Islam, Dewanganj upazila nirbahi officer, said that through the district administration they had sent a proposal to the higher authorities concerned to provide electricity in the area to have a permanent solution of the problem last year, which is still under process.