Fear grips residents as elephant tramples aged man to dying in Kerala’s Munnar

By Express News Service

MUNNAR: An aged man was trampled to dying by a wild elephant at Singukandam close to Suryanelli in Munnar on Wednesday morning. Babu, 60, of Kripasanam House in Singukandam, had stepped out of the home to alert the neighbours concerning the presence of untamed elephants within the space when a jumbo attacked him from behind and trampled him to dying. The incident occurred at 6 am.

Increasing man-elephant battle has pushed the residents of Singukandam, Chinnakanal and Anayirankal to the brink lately and 34 individuals have been killed by wild elephants within the space in the course of the previous seven years. The space is a habitat of untamed elephants and there’s fixed presence of elephants within the neighborhood of Anayirankal dam.

“A herd of 24 wild elephants including three male elephants and a male calf has been roaming the area for the past few months. We have deployed guards to monitor the movement of the herd. The herd was camping in Singukandam from midnight on Tuesday. Babu had stepped out of the house at 6 am on Wednesday when the elephant attacked him from behind. He died on the spot and the body was shifted to Adimali Taluk hospital for postmortem examination,” stated Devikulam vary officer Job J Neriamparambil.

“The Anayirankal area is a habitat of wild elephants and installation of solar fencing is not practical here. A herd of 24 elephants has been moving in a circular path from Meesapulimala to Thondiyar, Sankarapandian Medu, Singukandam and 301 colony. Recently the PWD has allocated Rs 7 crore to construct underpasses at four points to facilitate the elephants to cross the National Highway so that there is no threat to commuters. The underpasses will be constructed between Devikulam and Bodimettu,” stated Munnar DFO Raju Ok Francis.

A wild elephant had attacked a pair travelling on a motorcycle at Poopara in Anayirankal in September 2021. Viji, 35, was trampled to dying by the elephant whereas her husband Kumar escaped with accidents.

“We have been pleading with the forest department to save us from elephant attacks for more than a decade. In Singukandam alone, six people were killed by wild elephants in the last five years. We are living in constant fear. Our families have been living here for the past 70 years and have not been provided title deeds,” stated N G Ramesh Kumar, a resident of Singukandam.