Three killed in conflict between Human-Elephant in Ramgarh

Ramgarh — Three people lost their lives after a herd of wild elephants entered villages in the Gola block of Ramgarh early Friday morning, triggering panic among local residents.

Two of the victims, Dheeraj Bhuiyan and Jugal Bhuiyan, were brick kiln labourers. They were attacked around 4 a.m. in Banda village when they stepped outside and were surrounded by the elephants. Dheeraj was a resident of Talatand in Patratu, while Jugal belonged to Kuju in Ramgarh.

In a separate incident in nearby Murpa village, 80-year-old Ramdev Shaw was killed when he went out to collect mahua flowers and was attacked by the animals.

Officials said the herd, consisting of around 12 elephants, had moved into residential areas after straying from forests in neighbouring Bokaro district. Forest Department personnel and police teams reached the spot after receiving information, and the bodies were sent for post-mortem examination.

Villagers accused the Forest Department of negligence. Banda Panchayat Mukhiya Kuldeep Tiwari claimed that officials were aware of the elephants’ movement in advance but failed to take steps to prevent them from entering human settlements.

Authorities announced compensation of ?4 lakh for each of the deceased. An immediate relief amount of ?25,000 has already been given, while the remaining compensation will be released after completion of formalities.

The incident underscores the growing human-elephant conflict in Jharkhand. Last week, three people were killed in a similar attack in Markacho. Official figures suggest that more than 28 people have died in elephant-related incidents across the state in the past 50 days.

With inputs from IANS