COIMBATORE: Villagers resorted to a road block protest after a 62-year-old estate worker was trampled to death by a wild elephant near Gudalur in the Nilgiris on Monday morning.
The deceased, Mani, from the New Hope area in ‘O’ Valley Panchayat in Gudalur Taluk, who was employed in a cardamom estate, was going for a walk along with another worker in the estate, when a wild elephant began to chase them around 8.30 am.
“Both took to their heels; however, the elephant chased and attacked Mani to death, while the other person managed to escape,” said a forest department staff member.
Soon, other workers and villagers arrived and chased away the wild elephant. They then brought the body of the deceased to be placed on the Gudalur-Ellamalai Road and squatted in protest. AIADMK Gudalur MLA Pon Jayaseelan and other opposition party functionaries joined the protest in support of the villagers.
The villagers broke into an altercation with police and forest department officials, who arrived for talks. They demanded that the forest department prevent the intrusion of elephants by erecting solar fencing and digging up trenches surrounding the residential area of estate workers.
Gudalur District Forest Officer N Venkatesh Prabhu then assured to make efforts to capture the wild elephant after obtaining permission from senior officials. He also informed that the forest department will enhance surveillance to prevent elephant intrusions. The villagers then withdrew the protest around 2.45 pm. Traffic was disrupted on the stretch due to the protest.