Ravilal Marandi (70), a resident of Bhagabandh Panchayat of Laghata area of Nirsa block of Dhanbad received a serious head injury this morning when he was attacked by an elephant, around 500 meters away from his house. Local residents, who rushed the site after hearing the cry, drove away the elephant and then took the injured person to a private nursing home of Nirsa with the help of local police. He was finally admitted to Patliputra Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), where he is undergoing treatment.

Babulal Marandi, a local resident and also a distant relative of the victim Ravilal Marandi, while talking to media said, “The incident took place at around 6 am in the morning when Ravilal was on a morning walk in the area and was attacked by the elephant.”

“The incident also exposed the pitiable state of affairs of the government-owned medical care facilities as when we rushed at the Nirsa PHC, we found no doctors there and other support staff present in the center refused to admit them due to lack of resources, compelling us to admit him in a private nursing home of Nirsa from where he was later referred to PMCH Dhanbad for treatment,” said Marandi.

Wasim Ansari, an assistant sub-inspector of police of Nirsa, who rushed to the site and admitted the injured person to the hospital said, “We came to know about the incident at around 6.10 am and immediately rushed to the site and also informed the forest department after admitting the injured person to PMCH.”

Divisional forest officer, Dhanbad, Bimal Lakra said, “The injured person is undergoing treatment at PMCH and we have initiated for providing compensation to him and trying to provide some advance even before the sanctioning of full compensation at the earliest.”