Villagers vent ire by locking forest dept staff

The forest department staff who arrived at the village for assessing crop loss were in for a shock when adamant villagers locked them in a school premises, demanding to fix a date for a meeting.

The staff comprised RFO K S Changappa, forester Channamallegowda, guards Puttegowda and Sukumar, jeep drivers Lokesh and Murthy, deputy tahsildar Tamannegowda and revenue office Kumaragowda.

The villagers, who were upset over the loss expressed their displeasure over their negligence and demanded that the arrival of the deputy commissioner. Sharing their woes with the newspaper, they said that herds of elephants strayed into villages and had destroyed standing crops and also a hut.  

Several farmers have lost their lives due to jumbo attack in the past 15 years.  But neither the department of forests nor the district administration has paid any heed to their sufferings, they claimed.

Assistant Conservator of Forests Purushottam visited the spot immediately and held a tele-conversation with the assistant commissioner and deputy commissioner and assured to fix a meeting on September 3 at 11 am.  Only after the assurance the villagers freed the officers.