File picture of the elephants at Birsa Maidan in Rourkela

Bhubaneswar, July 8: The herd of elephant camping atop Durgapur hill has been driven back by the forest department and an expert team from Jharkhand.

The animals entered the Chirubeda reserve forest, which is adjacent to the Saranda forest.

On Friday night, the herd of 11 elephants had strayed into Rourkela city and the forest and police officials confined them in Birsa Maidan. They were driven away towards Saranda forest in the night, but they got distracted and climbed atop Durgapur hill near Bondomunda on the city outskirts.

Range officer Panposh forest P.K. Dhal said: “The objective of the operation was achieved and the herd was driven into Chirubeda forest, which is located adjacent to Jharkhand part of Saranda. The operation took an entire night. It started around six in the evening and was completed around 3.30am.”

The elephants had climbed the Durgapur hill yesterday morning, when they were driven away from Bisra Maidan in Rourkela. The presence of the crowd on the path led to the herd being distracted as a result they took a different path, said the forest official.

Finally, yesterday evening the operation resumed and the herd was brought down the hill. Then they entered Kantajhar, just behind the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Rourkela. There the jumbos razed two asbestos houses. To avoid any untoward incident, the villagers were evacuated and were taken to the NIT Rourekla campus.

By 11pm they reached the Kukuda Gate railway crossing, where the herd crossed it smoothly.

“On our request train services were suspended for 30 to 45 minutes and power connection was also snapped for their safety,” said Dhal. Later, the wild animals marched towards Dumerta railway crossing and from there they reached the Chirubeda forest.

“From there the elephants found their own way and vanished into the forest by 3.30am. They did not turn and proceed forward,” said the forest officials.