Jumbos cross 2 rivers, cover 50km to reach Howrah from W Midnapore

HOWRAH/KOLKATA: In a first, villagers in a pocket of Howrah woke up to the trumpeting of some unwelcome visitors. As residents of Uttar Bhatora under Amta-II block — barely 90 kilometres from Kolkata — came out of their houses in the wee hours of Monday, they found two elephants roaming the local streets. Foresters claimed that wild jumbos were never seen in Howrah before.As the jumbos moved, they left a trail of at least 1,500 startling villagers, who had gathered on the spot from nearby villages to have a glimpse of the elephants.
During their journey overnight — about 50km — from West Midnapore’s Ghatal, the jumbos crossed two rivers — Mundehswari and Rupnarayan, both 200-300 metres wide — to first cross over to Hooghly’s Khanakul and then to Howrah’s Uttar Bhatora. Till reports last came in on Monday night, the jumbos had moved towards Khanakul again.

State’s chief wildlife warden, Ravi Kant Sinha, said: “We have received reports of presence of two elephants in Howrah’s Amta block. Department officials and staff are there to drive away the jumbos to the nearest forest.” Divisional forest officers of four divisions — Howrah, Rupnarayan, West Midnapore and Kharagpur — had also rushed to the spot with tranquillising teams.
“In the morning, the elephants were spotted inside a bamboo grove that was surrounded by human settlements. To get to the forested areas of West Midnapore from here, the jumbos will have to cross the Rupnarayan again,” said Suvrajyoti Chatterjee of Human and Environment Alliance League, an NGO working in the area on man-animal conflict.
A source said the foresters have a daunting task at hand as the forests of Bhadutola, Godapiasal and Salboni in West Midnapore are located almost 100 kilometres from Howrah.
Bhatora resident Moidul Islam, who had reached the spot in the morning, said he saw an elephant for the first time in the region. “We are living in fear and my family members couldn’t even cook throughout the day,” he added. Residents of nearby Chitnan village are also living in fear. “If they have sneaked into Bhatora, it won’t take much time for them to reach Chitnan,” said Alorani Sardar, a villager.
Ranger Utpal Sarkar said the foresters had a tough time in controlling the panicked and excited villagers. “The tuskers are now in Khanakul and they will get some forested patches in Arambagh, located 40 kilometres away.”
Chief conservator of forest of western circle, Shakti Dey, said that even a day before there were reports of tuskers’ presence in Chandrakona. “ Till now, there are no reports of any casualty. Thousands of villagers had gathered in the Howrah village, making the crowd management a difficult task,” he said. Asked about presence of elephant herds in his area, Dey said while a herd of 35-40 elephants is now roaming the forests of Jhargram, another 12-15 are in West Midnapore’s Nayagram. But the tuskers are not from these herds.