Assam: Wild elephant destroys houses, paddy stocks in Biswanath

Biswanath: At least five houses were destroyed and a huge amount of paddy were destroyed after a wild elephant created havoc in a village at Behali constituency of Assam’s Biswanath district on Friday.

The wild elephant had strayed from a nearby forest reserve in search of food during the wee hours of Friday. It destroyed the five houses along with some concrete walls. The wild jumbo also consumed and destroyed paddy belonging to various people.

However, nearly six members of one family, including children, had a narrow escape after the wild elephant smashed down a wall of their house.

Meanwhile, the victims here alleged that despite informing the local forest department as soon as the elephant reached the village, officials reached the spot late. The villagers also alleged that by the time forest officials reached the spot, the wild tusker had already damaged much of their belongings.

Elaborating the incident, a villager recalled that he woke up at midnight hearing to some cracking noise and upon searching, he found the wild tusker feeding upon the paddy that was stocked outside his house.

“I was shocked to see that the tusker demolishing a wall of my house and I immediately rushed for help,” he said, adding: “The forest guards arrived at the spot around 4 in the morning, but by then the damage was already done,” he alleged.