The Seraikela forest range office will shortly form teams of villagers who will drive away elephants from their respective pockets.

Jumbos from neighbouring Odisha are anchored in the jungles of Seraikela for some months now and have also killed two people and damaged homes and farms.

While one Kalicharan Mardi was killed by a herd when he had gone to pluck leaves at a jungle under Kandra thana on August 6, Ramchandra Mahto met with similar incident when he was trampled by elephants at a jungle in Ichagarh on Tuesday. The elephants have also destroyed some homes and wiped out food stock as well as damaged standing crops.

Seraikela range officer Prakash Ram said over phone from Seraikela that 10 villagers will be part of each team which will drive away the elephants from their respective areas. "It is known as elephant drive teams. The teams will be shortly formed since it would not be a wise idea to keep the matter pending. It is essential to protect the lives of people as well as their property," he added.

The team members will be armed with mashals (torches) and drums. "The villagers have gained a fair amount of idea about how to drive away the elephants as they have been bearing the brunt of jumbo attacks for quite some time now. The villagers know how to drive away the elephants. We are serious in shepherding the elephants back to Odisha," Ram said.

Separate herds of about 30 elephants, including 11 in Rajnagar, 7 in Gamharia and a lone tusker in Kandra, are presently stationed in Seraikela. The Seraikela range office is on high alert and keeping a watch over the movement of elephants. "We are alert and trying hard to drive away the elephants," the range officer said.

However, forest team cannot control things on their own due to manpower crunch. "It is not possible to cover the entire range owing to lack of resources, including manpower. So, it is better to form team of villagers for driving away the herds. We can always give technical support to the teams," a forester said on condition of anonymity.

According to him, elephants generally don't attack unless teased. "For instance, the lone tusker in Kandra is cool and never enters villages. The jumbo satiates its thirst at a pond in Kandra and moves into the jungles. Villagers simply watch the elephant and never teases it by throwing stones. We always tell villagers to not make elephants angry," the forester added.