A tragic incident of human-elephant conflict resulted in the death of a young woman in Odisha's Angul district on Wednesday, leading to massive public protests and a major disruption of national highway traffic.
Fatal Morning in Heavy Fog
Sumanti Behera, aged 29, lost her life when she was trampled by a wild elephant at Bantala Square in Angul. The incident occurred in the early morning hours when she had gone to fetch water. According to DFO (Angul) Nitish Kumar, heavy fog severely reduced visibility at the time, despite the presence of high-mast lights in the area.
"It is an area with frequent elephant movement, and she was caught unawares when the animal came very close to her," Kumar explained, highlighting the perennial danger in the zone.
Public Anger Erupts into Road Blockade
Enraged by the incident, local residents staged a vigorous protest, alleging negligence by the forest department. They blocked the crucial National Highway connecting Sambalpur and Cuttack, bringing vehicular movement to a standstill for over two hours.
Protesters were seen burning tyres and shouting slogans. They expressed their frustration over the forest department's failure to issue timely alerts about elephant movements, which they claim leads to preventable loss of life. "Elephants are regularly straying into human habitation in Angul, but the forest department is not sounding any alert. As a result, precious lives are lost," a protester stated.
The blockade stranded thousands of trucks carrying essential supplies. Many commuters heading to Angul town from nearby villages were forced to turn back. It took authorities approximately three hours to restore normal traffic flow after police and forest personnel were deployed to pacify the crowd.
Official Response and Compensation
Forest officials provided a different perspective on the alert systems. Regional Chief Conservator of Forest, Sanjay Swain, stated that alerts about possible elephant movement are issued and regular sensitisation programs are conducted to educate people about elephant behaviour.
He also pointed to a silver lining, noting, "Compared to last year, this year in Angul, human casualty came down." Officials confirmed that compensation for the victim's family, as per the government package, would be processed and provided soon.
The tragic death of Sumanti Behera has once again brought the intense and deadly human-elephant conflict in regions like Angul into sharp focus, underscoring the urgent need for effective mitigation strategies and better community alert mechanisms.
