Tension prevailed in front of the Forest Department office at Mudigere on Friday as a protest following the death of a plantation worker in an elephant attack, turned violent. The police resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the mob.
Arjun, a 40-year-old plantation worker, died in an elephant attack at Urubage village in Mudigere taluk on Thursday, leading to the protest by the local people.
They demanded that the department capture and relocate all four elephants roaming wildly in the taluk. At one point they tried to barge into the office. They tried to topple an official vehicle of the department, forcing the police to disperse the mob.
Voicing their anger, the people said this was the third death this year in elephant attack and wanted an end to the menace.
Sharanu Basappa, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Chikkamagaluru division, said that the department had permitted the capture and relocation of an elephant and the operation would begin soon. “We have written to officers to deploy tamed elephants from Sakrebail in Shivamogga to conduct the operation,” he said.
He said the victim’s family would get an ex gratia payment of ₹7.5 lakh. “We will give the cheque for ₹2 lakh immediately and the remaining amount would be transferred to the family members in three months,” he said.
