Wild elephants destroy paddy fields

Some wild elephants have been attacking villages in the new Muroicherra tea garden area under Kulaura Upazila of Moulvibazar and destroying paddy fields.

Villagers said a huge amount of paddy has been damaged by the elephants. Many children and women are moving to safer places, they added.

Villager Mohon Urang said they were guarding the garden and the paddy fields at night, fearing more attacks. The elephants return to the forest after destroying the crops at night, he added.

Paban Rajak, a tea worker of the garden, said the elephants destroyed the paddy and vegetables they were harvesting in the area. He added that they had been living there for generations, but the elephants had never disturbed them.

The tea garden manager Nikhil Chandra Debnath said the tea workers were afraid of the attacks, and many of them were guarding their paddy and vegetable fields.

Chairman of Kormodha Union Parishad MA Rahman Atik told The Daily Star that five elephants had destroyed a large number of paddy fields.