Villagers torch forest office over elephant attack death in West Karbi Anglong

Diphu, March 18: Angered by the delayed response of the forest department in retrieving the body of a man killed by a wild elephant, villagers torched the Chesko Forest Sub-Beat Office under the Dongkamokam Forest Range on Monday night.

Shouting slogans like “Forest Department, go back!”, the enraged residents vandalised office property before setting it ablaze.

Their fury stemmed from the death of 28-year-old Kiri Phura, a resident of Borthoiso village, who was fatally attacked by a wild elephant on Monday afternoon while collecting ants in the forest.

The incident occurred around 1 pm, but despite being informed, the Forest Department allegedly failed to retrieve Phura’s body until 7 pm.

The delay, which also hindered efforts to chase the elephant away, further fuelled public outrage, culminating in the attack on the forest office.

At the time of reporting, no official statement had been issued by the Forest Department.

In recent years, Assam has witnessed a significant surge in human-elephant conflicts, leading to the tragic loss of both human and elephant lives.

As habitats shrink and urbanisation accelerates, these encounters have become more frequent, often ending in violence.

Government data reveals that Assam ranks just behind Odisha, Jharkhand, and West Bengal in human casualties caused by elephant attacks, underscoring the severity of the issue.

In the last five years alone, Assam has witnessed a staggering 383 deaths due to such encounters.

The numbers paint a grim picture—75 lives lost in 2019-20, 91 in 2020-21, 63 in 2021-22, 80 in 2022-23, and 74 in 2023-24. With each passing year, the toll fluctuates, but the crisis remains unchanged.

As human settlements expand into wildlife habitats and elephants venture into villages in search of food, clashes between the two have become alarmingly frequent.