Elephant herd creates panic in Jorhat From A Correspondent JORHAT, Feb 2 The district has been reeling under the threat posed by a marauding herd of elephants which has been foraging in the riverine areas along the Brahmaputra river for the past one month. Due to the failure of the Jorhat Forest Division to chase away the wild jumbos from human-inhabited areas so far, the situation has turned tense in vast localities in north Jorhat.
As rumours of the elephants veering towards the town spread last evening, there was panic among residents of Kokilamukh, Neamatighat, Jankhona, Raja Howli and Charigaon who fled their homes for places of safety. Though Forest and police personnel looked for the herd later in the night, the jumbos could not be spotted.
It later transpired that the boarders of Asom Bangia Saraswat Math (popularly known as Shanti Ashram) raised an alarm when they saw an elephant near No 2 spur of the Brahmaputra in Kokilamukh area yesterday. The news soon got around that the herd had even reached the Jorhat Bypass.
Forest Division sources said that the 110-strong herd of jumbos, now divided into several groups, has been taking shelter in Kumolia Chapori opposite to Asom Bangia Saraswat Math. Forest workers from Golaghat and Sivasagar Forest Divisions have been called out to tackle the jumbo menace here, the sources added. There is a plan to drive out the herd from Kumolia Chapori with the help of a couple of kunki (trained) elephants.
