'I will end my life there': Karnataka farmers on elephant menace

The residents of Maduvinahalli village near Nanjangud town in Karnataka Mysuru district threatened to consume poison before the Forest Department office if the authorities cannot prevent elephants from entering their agricultural fields.

The residents of Maduvinahalli village near Nanjangud town in Karnataka Mysuru district threatened to consume poison in front of the Forest Department office if the authorities cannot prevent elephants from entering their agricultural fields.

Representational Image (HT_PRINT)

In a recent tweet by IANS,two elephants were seen surfacingin the village on Tuesday morning creating panic among the villagers,who are fed up with the rise in cases of elephants straying into villages and damaging crops and are worried about their safety.

It was reported that there has been a wall with iron pillars constructed to prevent elephants and wild animals from straying into the village, which has collapsed and the work taken up to reconstruct the wall is incomplete, leaving the residents vulnerable to the attack of elephants and wild animals.

"We escaped the attack by the elephants by a whisker. Since the last three days, the elephants have destroyed banana and coconut trees. I am left with nothing. The forest officers come to the village, get forms filled by us and then disappear. In the end, they will give us compensation of ₹500 or ₹1,000 after we lose our entire crop. If the elephant menace is not stopped, I will go to the Forest department office with a bottle of poison and consume it. I will end my life there," said Sheshappa, an aggrieved farmer told IANS.

As per sources, the farmers of Maduvinahalli have taken loans to grow their crops, and have been facing a double whammy of humiliation from moneylenders and crops being destroyed by jumbos. And is calling upon the Forest Department to take some action to prevent elephants from straying into their agricultural fields.

A similar incident held in the village of Penjalli near Hunsur town in the Mysuru district demanded a permanent solution to the elephant menace.