Five to six herds of elephants were spotted in the vicinity of Rourkela on Thursday. With the harvesting season approaching, herds of elephants are coming nearer the city.

Vegetable sellers, who come to Koelnagar from Khuntgaon and Nuagaon, have reported about presence of jumbos.

"My father had instructed me to cross the Koel river by 4pm so that we can reach home by 5pm," said Sarang Munda of Khuntgaon. Another villager Sita Oram said: "Last night we heard the cries of elephants and it was a frightening experience. The villagers are getting ready to guard in batches, as vegetables will be ready for harvest in two weeks time."

One herd consisting of 22 to 24 elephants are coming closer to areas near Tangarpalli on the outskirts of the city. The affected areas are Delakudar, Mundajore and Ganjubusti. They stay in the jungles during the day and venture out at night. Villagers have complained that the herds have destroyed standing crops on nearly 50 acres of cultivated land. So far, they have not ventured into the human habitats.

In July, a woman was attacked by a jumbo. However, she survived with broken limbs near Nayadora. On October 4, one person was trampled to death in Badgaon.

The divisional forest officer of Rourkela, Sanjit Kumar, said: "There are more than five herds near city limits."

Kumar said the forest department was proactive and assisted those who had suffered crop loss.

Text by Rajesh Mohanty, picture by Uttam Kumar Pal