Tripura: 85 yr old man killed in wild elephant attack in Khowai district

In a tragic incident reported from Maharanipur, within the jurisdiction of the Teliamura police station in Khowai district of tirpura, an 85 year old man was killed in a wild elephant attack on Sunday evening.
The deceased identified as Nirudh Chowdhury, was attacked by the wild elephant while he was returning home from a local temple.

Speaking about the incident, Ranjan Chowdhury, son of the deceased said “The incident happened at Maharanipur Kamalatilla area of Teliamura in Khowai district. It happened at around 6:30 PM last evening. He had come to my residence, where he had dinner. He then went to the local temple and on his way back to his ancestral home, he was attacked by the elephant.”

Ranjan further said that his father’s residence was also destroyed few months ago in another wild elephant rampage.

The locals are now living in fear of more wild elephant attacks. Many residents attributed the tragedy to the negligence of forest department officials.

Forest officials, police, and even journalists faced resistance from the agitating locals when they arrived to investigate the incident.

Chandni Chandra, the District Magistrate of Khowai district on Monday ordered the District Forest Officer to tranquilize the elephant ‘Moti’, which has been causing damage to life and property in the area within 72 hours and rehabilitate it to the elephant camp in Mungiakami or any other appropriate place.
According to reports, there have been 26-27 incidents of elephant-human conflict in Tripura in the past one year.

Earlier this year, in January, a herd of wild elephants wreaked havoc by demolishing several mud houses in the same locality leading to huge protests and national highway blockade.

Notably, on January 20, just a day after Tripura Forest Minister Bikash Debbarma had assured measures to mitigate human-animal conflicts in Khowai district, another wild elephant attack was reported at Chakmaghat, damaging homes and properties.

A report from the state Forest Department, a few years ago, indicated Tripura’s elephant population to be 102, comprising 42 wild elephants and 60 in captivity.