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Uttarakhand: Man trampled to death by elephant on Neelkanth stretch
Last month on February 22 in a similar incident, an elephant had mowed down a person at Phoolchatti road near Neelkanth shrine
A 55-year-old was trampled to death by an elephant on the path towards Neelkanth shrine in Rajaji Tiger Reserve in Pauri Garhwal district.
Dheer Singh, range officer Gauhri in Rajaji Tiger Reserve said the incident occurred on the Neelkanth shrine stretch when a 55-year-old person was passing through the same.
“The elephant charged and attacked the person who died on the spot. We are trying to identify the deceased person and his body has been sent for post-mortem. As this is a sensitive area we have sought additional patrolling staff from the authorities as in the recent years, many such incidents of elephant-human conflict have come to light,” said Singh.
Additional superintendent of police Pauri Garhwal Manisha Joshi also arrived at the spot and directed the deployment of police personnel as well as putting up warning signages about elephant movement in the area.
Notably, last month on February 22 in a similar incident, an elephant had mowed down a person at Phoolchatti road near Neelkanth shrine-Lakshman Jhula area in Pauri Garhwal district.
The wild elephant also rammed into nearby shops, damaging three of them and breaking window panes of a goods transport van parked adjacent to the shops.
While two years ago in March, a 20-year-old youth, returning after paying obeisance at the Neelkanth shrine, was trampled to death when an elephant attacked him and his friends near Mauni Baba junction of Neelkanth-Lakshman Jhula stretch.
Three days ago, a leopard attacked a Scooty driver near Chandolarai village on Premnagar- Gadauli-Khandah stretch of Pauri.
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Forest range officer Pauri, Anil Bhatt said in view of the wild animal incidents, additional deployment of forest patrolling team has been done in Gadauli area and local people have been urged to be cautious and report to the forest control room immediately if they spot leopard movement.
Local resident Rajendra Bhandari said that in recent months, movement of elephants in this area had increased, demanding round the clock deployment of forest personnel as both pilgrims and local people are under threat.
