DIBRUGARH: In a tragic incident, a 48-years-old man was trampled to death by a wild elephant at Abhaypur village under Namrup police station in Dibrugarh on Saturday evening.

The deceased has been identified as Nandeswar Gogoi.

According to reports, Nandeswar Gogoi was returning from Namrup market at around 9 pm when he encounter a wild elephant on the road, he was chased by the elephant and later trampled to death.

Locals said the elephants strayed out of the Joypur reserve forest in search of food and entered into human habitation.

“We are helpless because most of the time, the wild elephant comes out from the Joypur reserve forest in search of food and entered our villages. We have urged the forest department to take steps to stop the depredation of wild elephants,” said a villager.

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The elephants from the Joypur reserve forest frequently move to the Assam-Arunachal border and its periphery. 

Talking to media persons, the deceased’s brother has requested the Assam government to give the victim’s family compensation and to take the responsibility of educating the children.

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“Man-elephant conflict has been rising rapidly due to the shrinking of forest cover. We urged the government to solve the problem,” he said.

Devojit Moran, an environmental activist said, “Due to the shrinking of forest cover man-elephant conflict has been rising. The forest department should work in coordination with villagers to stop the conflict. The wild elephants frequently entered villages in search of food during the winter season. Most of the time, the elephant herd destroyed crop fields and the poor farmer tried different techniques to stop the elephant depredation which resulted in conflict.”

Pushpadhar Buragohain, range officer of Jeypore said, “We have sent the body for post-mortem. As a procedure, the family will get compensation. The elephant comes out from Jeypore reserve forest which is adjacent to the village.”