Thiruvananthapuram: Two days after a tribal farmer, Raghu was trampled to death by a wild elephant on the Aralam farm in Kerala’s Kannur district, protests continued in the area.
Raghu (43) was trampled to death on Friday afternoon and a case has been registered under section 174 of CrPC.
With the passing away of Raghu, his three children are orphaned as his wife had predeceased him. The killing of Raghu, who had gone to the forest area adjacent to the farm to collect firewood, came as a shock to the people in the area and a sense of gloom and fear was prevailing there.
Balakrishnan (45), a tribe and a relative of Raghu while speaking to IANS said, “This is a failure of the state forest department. We don’t have any other means rather than depending on forest produce and firewood. The state government had sanctioned an amount to clear the bushes adjacent to the farm, but the forest department sat idle and this has led to the death of one more of our brethren.”
Another tribal youth, Damu was trampled to death in the same area by a wild elephant a few days ago and since the past two years 12 people have been trampled to death in the Aralam farm area of Kannur district in North Kerala, the district to which both state Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and forest minister A.K. Saseendran belong to.
Sunitha, a tribal woman while speaking to IANS said, “When an elephant was creating ruckus in Dhoni, Palakkad district where upper crest of the society lives, the forest department immediately swung into action. The elephant had killed one morning walker, but other than that it led to the destruction of properties and crops but it was darted and captured immediately. People in the Aralam area are tribes and we are being killed mercilessly by wild elephants, but the forest department turns a blind eye. We are protesting against this.”
–IANS