Chennai, Jan 30 (BPNS)
The local people in O- Valley are protesting against the killing of a security guard of a private coffee plantation by a wild elephant on Saturday. The guard, Nowshad Ali was returning home from work along with his friend, Named Jamal when the wild elephant attacked them.
While Nowshad died on the spot, Named is undergoing treatment at a Government hospital in Gudalur. His condition is slated to be serious.
The local people did not allow the body of Nowshad for postmortem till they got a promise that a compensation of Rs 5 lakh will be provided to the family of the late security guard as also employment to one of his family members.
With the elephant roaming around, the local people formed a committee and protested for the elephant to be captured. Forest officials have deployed two kumki elephants which have for the time being driven the elephant to the forest.
Praveen Raj, a local man working in a plantation at O- Valley while speaking to BPNS said, “ The killer elephant is roaming around. We have already communicated this to the local administration as well as the forest department. They have to immediately capture this elephant. We need not want to hear anything other than the news that the elephant has been captured.”
It may be noted that in the Satyamangalam Forest area also an elephant, Karuppan has created havoc and killed a woman. After a week-long move to capture the elephant, the Tamil Nadu forest department is waiting for a few more days to resume the operation.
The local forest officials at Gudalur told BPNS that the decision to capture the elephant has to be taken at the highest level and added that clearance from the Chief Wild Life warden is expected soon.
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