Digboi: In another incident of human–elephant conflict in Upper Assam, two members of the same family, including an elderly woman, were trampled to death by a wild elephant at Brahmanan Tea Estate under Pengaree Police Station in Tinsukia district late on Friday night.
The victims, identified as an approximately 85-year-old mother and her 45-year-old son, were residents of Line No. 4 of the tea estate, which falls under the Doomdooma Forest Division. The incident reportedly occurred around 11 pm when the family was asleep inside their residence.
According to relatives and local residents, a wild elephant that had strayed from the nearby Upper Dehing Reserve Forest (West Block) entered the labour lines of the tea garden and attacked the house where the victims were sleeping.
The elephant allegedly broke into the structure and trampled the two to death on the spot before moving back towards the forest.
Soon after the incident, Co-District Superintendent of Police Himangshu Gohain, along with personnel from Pengaree Police Station, rushed to the site. Officials from the Forest Department also reached the location and initiated the necessary legal and departmental formalities.
The deaths have once again drawn attention to the ongoing human–elephant conflict along the fringes of the Upper Dehing Reserve Forest (West Block).
Villages and tea garden labour lines situated along the forest boundary, particularly in the Pengaree, Doomdooma and Digboi belt, have reported repeated elephant incursions in recent months.
Local residents said that increasing habitat disturbance, shrinking forest corridors and the availability of food sources in human settlements are leading wild elephants to enter tea gardens and nearby villages more frequently.
Tea garden workers, who live in labour quarters located close to forested areas, remain vulnerable to such nocturnal elephant incursions.
Residents have repeatedly demanded mitigation measures including solar fencing, early warning systems, rapid response teams and regular patrolling to prevent further loss of human life.
Friday night’s incident has renewed calls for intervention, with locals stating that effective measures are needed to manage the conflict around the Upper Dehing Reserve Forest.
More details of the development are awaited.