Elephant herd strays into plantations, destroy crops

A herd of seven elephants strayed into coffee plantations in Haralli village in Gowdalli Gram Panchayat and wreaked havoc by destroying crops on Friday morning.

Owners of the plantations, H T Lakshminarayana, Subramanya, Dharmappa, Balakrishna, Hemachandra and Lakshmana said that the herd comprised a calf.

The villagers said that there is an atmosphere of panic as an elephant herd entering plantations in Haralli village has taken place for the first time.

On Thursday, the forest department officials of Shanivarasanthe range had driven the elephants from Ajjalli village towards Malambi. But, they returned later and entered Haralli, said the villagers.

More than 100 coffee plants, plantains, pepper vines and ginger have been destroyed on 2.5 acres of plantation. A loss of Rs 3 lakh has been estimated and an application has been submitted to Shanivarasanthe forest department towards compensation, said planter Lakshminarayana's son H L Raghu.

RFO Praful Shetty said that a spot inspection has been carried out.

Measures will be taken to compensate the growers as per government norms, he said.