Forest department launches drive to push away tuskers

Two days after the death of a young councillor in elephant attack in West Midnapore district, the forest department today attempted to drive away the 90-member herd of jumbos to their habitat in Dalma Hills range forest.

A forest official said the jumbos were being driven from Sankrail area towards Nayagram under Kharagpur forest division.

With the herd being split into different groups, forest department personnel were finding it difficult to push them away in a time-bound manner, the official said.

Meanwhile, villagers demonstrated before the forest official at Sankrail on Monday demanding the pachyderms be immediately driven to their habitat.

The villagers alleged the wild elephants were destroying their paddy crop.

On Friday last a 35-year-old councillor of Midnapore municipality was hurled to death by a tusker at Manikapara, near Midnapore district headquarters town.

Koustav Banerjee, a Congress councillor, who was visiting a close friend at Manikpara, had gone to have a view of a group of about 60 elephants near Sorodia railway station when he met his end.