Jumbo rampage on in Chakulia (Jamshedpur) B Sridhar, Times of India July 15, 2024 Residents of Chakulia block in East Singhbhum district are facing increasing incidents of elephant attacks, causing anger and frustration among the people. The frequent attacks on houses, school buildings, stockyards, factories, and agricultural fields have made life difficult for the villagers living on the foothills of the forest and the residents living in the town. According to Sushil Sharma, a godown official, “In the past one month, separate elephant herds have attacked the State Food Corporation (SFC) godown at least a dozen times, uprooting fences, demolishing the boundary walls and eating away rice and wheat stock." The Lodhasoli govt upgraded high school principal, Bhudev Shankar, said that elephants attacked the school on July 7 and ate away the mid-day meal food materials. "The herd demolished the boundary wall and walked into the campus, and razed the kitchen wall and ate the MDM stock materials," the principal said. At present, there are about 40 plus elephants wandering in the forest area. These herds regularly descend onto the fields in search of food and water. Gangesh Rungta, a rice mill owner, said, “It's not just that they cause damage to the standing crop and wipe out paddy fields, but they raze the houses and assault people." The Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry president, Vijay Anand Moonka, has addressed a letter to chief minister Hemant Soren on July 12, pleading for immediate intervention to mitigate the problem. “The elephants which largely come from Bengal are damaging the machines, equipment and structure. We have urged the CM to address the concerns of the mill owners, traders and the factory workers,” said Moonka. Digvijay Singh, Chakulia range forester, said that despite the efforts of the QRTs in chasing the herds to Bengal, the counterpart forest officials push them back to the Jharkhand border, causing the problem to persist. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ranchi/elephant-rampage-in-chakulia-residents-face-increasing-attacks/articleshow/111739476.cms