Jumbos from Nepal damage crop in Kheri 2nd time in a wk

Pilibhit: A herd of over 20 wild elephants from Nepal destroyed wheat, sugarcane and banana crops in Ramuapur village near Majhgai forest range of North Kheri forest division in Kheri district on the intervening night between Tuesday and Wednesday, marking the second such incident in the district in a week.Forest officials said the incident affected over 24 farmers, causing around 40% to 50% damage to their standing crops. "The elephants, which were camping at the other end of the forest range, moved to Ramuapur after protective measures were put in place to ward them off from the cropped fields after the incident," said forest range officer Ankit Singh.Last week, on Feb 3 and 4, wild elephants had ravaged sugarcane and banana crops on 14 acres of land belonging to over 70 farmers in Bhagwant Nagar and Gulara villages located near the same forest range. A km-long solar fencing was also damaged in the event.Some affected farmers, including Kapil Singh, Ashok Kumar, Hemendra Singh and Hardwari Lal, accused the forest department of being sluggish in initiating compensation for crop damage, claiming that the process often gets delayed by over a year. "We are not given any permanent protection from the menace and violent behaviour of the elephants," one of the farmers said.A senior forest official, on account of anonymity, told TOI that the "state govt had not allocated any funds to the department in advance for crop damage by wild elephants" since the laid-down norms of Terai Elephant Reserve (TER) were notified on Dec 19, 2022. According to the norms, the prime objective of TER is the conservation of elephants, their scientific management, and to facilitate farmers with immediate reparation without depending on the state govt's approval of the amount of damage.