File photo: Wild elephants creating havoc in Upper Assam

One Rajen Gogoi (42) was trampled to death and his neighbour Basanta Burahgohain (28) was injured by wild jumbos at Bhogpur village under Madhupur grant of Meleng beat office area under Mariani forest range in Jorhat district in the wee hours of Saturday.

According to Divisional Forest Officer Davinder Suman hearing the sounds of the herd both Gogoi and Buragohain went out to see whether the paddy crops had been damaged.

“They immediately came face to face with the herd of elephants and were trampled by the animals leading to the death of one and injury of the other,” Suman said.

Following the death of Gogoi irate villagers protested against the department for not being able to protect them against straying jumbos from the Hollongapar Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary and causing depredations in villages and destruction of tea estates and paddy crops.

The villagers also reportedly gheraoed the team of forest employees and guards who had gone to take stock of the situation and refused to let them go unless adequate compensation was paid and a job given to the son of Gogoi.

The DFO said that the villagers also refused to accept the body of Gogoi until the government assured to give a government job to one of Gogoi’s family members and adequate compensation.

It was only after senior department officials including Conservator of Forests, Eastern Assam Circle,  Ranjan Kumar Das and Suman visited the site of the incident that the situation was brought under  control.

Suman said that the people were persuaded to accept the body after they assured the people of writing to the government to induct a family member of Gogoi to the department under muster-roll provision.

The villagers were also told that the deceased’s family would  be given compensation as per the provision of the government policy of providing compensation to the next kin of those killed by wild animals and that the report in this regard would  be submitted to Dispur at the earliest.

Smita Bhattacharyya is Northeast Now Correspondent in Jorhat. She can be reached at: [email protected]