It’s a battle for survival.
Loss of habitats and food sources have forced wild elephants to march to adjacent villages in search of food, triggering a conflict with villagers in Bakshiganj upazila of Jamalpur.
Several herds of elephants from deep forests of India’s Meghalaya are making the lives miserable for the people at seven villages in the upazila.
Locals said the elephants come to the villages at night, destroy paddy fields and fruit orchards.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, several villagers told that they spend sleepless nights amid fear of attacks by the wild elephants.
Mostofa Kamal, a chairman of Kamalpur union parishad, said the elephants have destroyed new crops in about 400 acres of land in the villages, including Satanipara, Shuknathpara, Tilapar, Balujhuri, Dighakona,Garopara and Laochpara.
Farmers of the villages are being forced to harvest their crops before those being matured, he said.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, the villagers alleged the elephants herds cannot be pushed back anyhow as India shut the doors of barbed fences on the border after the elephants enter the Bangladesh territory. Md Ershad, Upazila Nirbahi Officer in Bakshiganj, said they have taken initiative to raise awareness among the villagers so that they can save their lives and properties from the attacks of the wild elephants.
