COIMBATORE: Villagers in Gudalur staged a protest for the second day on Friday condemning the state forest department for failing to curb attacks by wild elephants.
A group of villagers led a hunger strike over inaction against the wild elephant menace. It comes in the backdrop of reports about an elephant raiding crops in villages under Devarshola Town Panchayat area. It has also destroyed some houses and vehicles in search of food.
A week ago, two kumkis named Shankar and Sreenivasan were deployed in the neighbouring Thorapalli locality in Gudalur to prevent intrusion of wild elephants.
As the villagers of Devarshola continued their protest for a second day, Gudalur AIADMK MLA Pon Jayaseelan joined them in solidarity.
They demanded the forest department to control wild elephant intrusions and to deploy additional forest department staff for surveillance. The villagers also sought increased compensation for damages caused due to elephant attacks.
Similarly, Communist Party of India (Marxist) members staged a protest near the Gudalur bus stand against the persistent wild elephant menace.