A wild elephant strayed into Totapara tea estate in Banarhat block of Jalpaiguri on Wednesday night and damaged three houses and a grocery shop.

Sources said the elephant walked into the estate from the neighbouring Moraghat forest in search of fodder. As it moved through the garden, it damaged houses of Saharul Haque, Aziz Mian and Haripada Roy. Also, a shop was vandalised.

Residents of the estate expressed anguish over the incident. “These days, elephants often enter our area and damage houses, shops and patches of agricultural land devour paddy. They also attack people,” said a resident.

The residents mentioned that after the attacks, foresters hand over a meagre compensation to them.

“We don’t want compensation. Instead, the department should intensify its patrolling in our area. On a number of occasions, foresters do not respond to our calls during such attacks,” he added.

The foresters, however, have denied the charges.

A team from the Moraghat forest range reached the tea estate and steered the elephant back to Moraghat forest, they said.

“Whenever we get information, our teams rush to the spot. The villagers will have to understand that at times, the teams have to handle multiple cases of elephant depredation. Also, it takes time to reach remote locations, especially during night hours,” said a senior forest officer.