Cuttack, Jan. 9: Panic gripped the city today after a herd of 13 elephants were spotted at Brajabiharipur.

A source said the herd was straying into the area, which falls under ward No. 3 of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation, for the past three days.

Three elephants have been spotted nearly 4km from the present campus of the National Law University. The herd, however, has not yet crossed the Mahanadi.

Resentment was brewing among the villagers since they feared that the elephants might stray into human settlements as the forest department had yet to drive it back either towards Athgarh or to Khuntuni.

"It is for the second consecutive day the elephants have been spotted in the region. They have destroyed a large portion of standing crops such as tomatoes, potatoes and brinjals," said 58-year-old farmer Ganesh Das.

Das said a lot of villagers from Brajabiharipur had cultivated vegetables on the other side of the river and it was for the second time in the past one year that elephants had been spotted few kilometres away from Cuttack city.

The herd has already wrecked havoc on the open fields situated on the other side of the Mahanadi river by destroying vegetable plantations in nearly three acres of farmland. "We have not seen any measure on part of the forest department to drive back the herd and ensure that they do not cross the river and enter our area," said local resident Gauranga Barik.

Forest officials suspect the herd is frequently using the Mahanadi river bed due to shortage of food.

Divisional forest officer Prashant Mishra said: "Our range officer and other staff members are closely monitoring the movement of the herd. It has not entered any human settlements near Brajabiharipur yet."