Chhattisgarh: 204 people killed in elephant attacks in last three years, Assembly told

A total of 204 people were killed in elephant attacks in Chhattisgarh in the last three years while 45 jumbos also died during this period, the Legislative Assembly was told on Monday.

In a written reply to a question submitted by Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) MLA Dharamjeet Singh, state forest minister Mohammad Akbar said, “204 people died and 97 suffered injuries in elephant attacks in the three years--2018, 2019 and 2020”.

During this period, 66,582 cases of elephants causing damage to crops, 5,047 cases of damage to houses and 3,151 cases of damage to other properties were reported, the reply said.

In total, 75,081 cases of deaths and injuries to people and damage to crops, houses and other properties in the elephant attacks (were registered) and a compensation of Rs 57,81,63,655 was paid in these three years, it said. Maximum deaths of people in such incidents were reported in the northern part of the state, comprising Surguja, Raigarh, Jashpur, Surajpur, Korba and other districts, which is notorious for human-elephant conflict.

In the last three years, the deaths of 45 elephants were reported from across Chhattisgarh. A total of 18 elephants died in 2020, 11 in 2019 and 16 in 2018, it said.