58-year-old farmer trampled to death by wild elephant in Pilibhit

PILIBHIT: A 58-year-old farmer was trampled to death by a wild elephant from Nepal in Dhakiya Talluke Mahrajpur village of Pilibhit about 15km from the Nepal border, on Sunday. The victim, Punnu Mandal, was asleep inside his thatched hut when a herd of about a dozen elephants strayed into the area, damaging crops and property. According to forest officials, one of the elephants demolished Mandal's hut while the herd rampaged through standing crops of sugarcane, soybean, banana and fodder spread across nearly 15 to 20 acres. This is the second such incident in the area in recent weeks. On Oct 24, two elephants from Nepal critically injured a 30-year-old farmer, Shyam Lal, in Ujhainia village when he tried to protect his crop.The elephants later moved towards neighbouring villages in Pilibhit district, including Gunhan, Gorakh Dibbi and Tharu Basti, triggering panic among residents. Village pradhan Vivekanand Sarkar said, "Most villagers' fields lie across the Sharda river, with their homes on the opposite bank. Since there's no bridge, villagers, forest staff and police could reach the spot only after sunrise, when boats began operating."During the night, locals on the opposite bank tried to drive the elephants away by lighting fires and banging utensils. "People are terrified. We've faced repeated attacks by wild elephants, yet there's been no effective safety measure from forest authorities. Villagers have now bought firecrackers to use as deterrents and decided to stay awake at night to watch for the herd's return," Sarkar added.Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR) field director Ramesh Chandra said forest teams have been deployed to monitor the elephants' movement. "The family of the deceased will receive compensation of ₹5 lakh," he said, adding that the body has been sent for postmortem.Anuradha Vemuri, chief wildlife warden of Uttar Pradesh, said efforts are being made to improve coordination on cross-border wildlife movement. "We shall strive to set up a communication system between Nepal and India through the Indo-Nepal Coordination Committee for prompt sharing of information about the jumbos' transboundary migration," she added.