Forest official injured in elephant attack in Namrup

HT Correspondent
DIBRUGARH, Dec 6: In yet another major case of man-elephant conflict, which has become a regular phenomenon in Assam, Bastav Borkotoky (34), the beat officer of Namrup range in eastern Assam’s Dibrugarh district was critically injured during an elephant attack at Kamargaon village in the wee hours on Tuesday.
DFO Sandeep of Dibrugarh Forest Division informed that the forest official was on duty with some other personnel of the department trying to chase away a herd of marauding elephants when he met with the accident.
“He has been rushed to a private nursing home in Dibrugarh where surgery is being performed,” the DFO said.
His condition is stated to be under watch, doctors said.
It might be mentioned that earlier too another villager was trampled to death by elephants in the same village which falls under Namrup police station of the district.
Man-elephant conflict has been rising due to shrinking of forest covers. The elephant comes out from the forest in search of food and enters into human habitation.
“The elephant comes out from Joypur reserve forest which is a habitat of elephants. The elephants entered our village and destroyed our crops. We have informed the forest department about the matter. Due to less manpower in the forest department they faced a challenge to drive the elephant,” said a villager.