Pasighat: A herd of wild elephants come out from the Lali reserve forest near Pasighat in the East Siang district destroying horticulture gardens and areca nut and papaya farms, besides banana groves, creating havoc among the farmers at the cultivation area near Berung village over the last few days.
The herd of wild tuskers, including a calf and bulls, repeatedly entered the Berung cultivation site at night, damaged the wire fencing at several locations, and destroyed growing areca nut plants on a large scale.
The animals also consumed pre-harvested crops and destroyed several farmhouses in the area.
The recent incident took place on Saturday night when the pachyderms entered the areca nut garden of one Aan Tangu and damaged growing areca nut plants with pre-harvested mustard and lentil crops.
They also rampaged nearby gardens owned by Obyak Dai, Dane Daring, and Tarin Saroh, and destroyed several farmhouses of the area.
Tangu and other farmers have approached Pasighat East MLA Kaling Moyong and the Divisional Forest Officer of Pasighat and urged them to take prompt steps to control the elephant menace in the area.
Last month, wild tuskers broke into a farmhouse and attacked the dwellers of the Mariyom portion near Berung village, during which a farm labourer sustained serious injuries.
The farmers and labourers engaged there fled the farm after the elephant attack.
The progressive farmers of the Berung area under Pasighat circle lamented that herds of wild elephants enter their gardens six to seven times every year and leave a trail of devastation behind.
“Our farmers have incurred heavy losses owing to the crop damage by wild elephants. We have demanded that the state government chalk out scientific measures to save our cultivations from wild elephants,” said the sufferers.
On being informed, officials from the Pasighat forest range under the Pasighat forest division visited the affected sites on Sunday, met the farmers, and took stock of the situation.
The aggrieved farmers of Berung have demanded that the forest department initiate a permanent solution to the man-elephant conflict, rather than giving “mild relief” to the farmers in the name of compensation.
“We do not need compensation from the forest department against crop damage caused by wild animals; we are seeking a permanent solution to restrain the elephant menace. It is almost impossible for government departments to pay compensation against damages caused to fruit plants like areca nut and oil palm and other fruit trees which take a long period to grow and require maintenance,” said the aggrieved farmers.