Baripada: Wildlife personnel in the Karanjia division have been facing a tough time to contain the menace of a herd of jumbos that has wrecked havoc in the area over the past one week. Their efforts to drive the herd away has yet not seen any success.

A tusker of the herd trampled a 50-year-old man to death on Tuesday. The deceased was identified as Rabindra Mahanta of village Dumuria.

Following the death, tension sparked in the area and irate villagers blocked the road between Karanjia and Jashipur. Besides demanding compensation for the victim, they also protested against what they described as the failure of the department in driving out the elephants from their area.

Divisional forest officer Prasanna Kumar Behera said an ex-gratia amount was paid to the next of kin of the decease soon after the incident. The next of kin will also be given compensation of Rs 4 lakh once the authorities received the post-mortem and inquiry reports.

"A drive was made to send the elephants back to Jharkhand, but some people are creating problems. The killer tusker entered the village after getting detached from its herd. He was irritated and trampled the victim to death in annoyance. We have been appealing to the villagers not to cause any distraction on their path. Efforts are on to drive the elephants out," Behera said .The herd, containing 23 elephants including a lone tusker and a calf, has came to this area for about a week and has caused damages to many houses and paddy fields. Assistant conservator of forests Batakrushna Padhi said four houses and more than 60 acres of paddy fields were damaged.

"The tusker that killed Rabindra on Tuesday is currently camping in Singda forest in Karanjia range while the remaining members of the herd are in the Ruruan forest in Dudhiani range. We are trying our best to drive the elephants away from the area," Padhi said.

Man drowns

A 50-year-old man drowned while taking bath in a creek in Akhuapal village in Harichandanpur police limits of Keonjhar district. The deceased has been identified as Gayadhar Giri. An accidental slip had resulted in the mishap, police said adding that an unnatural death case has been registered in this connection.