Balasore, Dec. 1: Panic gripped villagers in the Nilgiri area of this district when a herd of elephants from Jharkhand destroyed paddy and damaged a number of houses.

Sources said the herd from Dalma sanctuary consisting of 130 pachyderms of various age groups had damaged 17 houses at Saidamala village in the past three days. The herd is now camping in the Satkosia forest range of Nilgiri.

Many panicked villagers are fleeing to safer zones, while some are even opting for shelter on treetops. Forest officials said they were closely monitoring the elephants’ movements.

“We have been advising the tribal villagers not to store any alcoholic drinks in their houses and not to tease the pachyderms,” said Kedar Swain, divisional forest officer of Balasore.

“If required, we will shift the villagers of the troubled areas to three temporary shelters. We will also offer them free kitchens after consulting with the district administration,” he said, adding the focus was on to prevent both human and elephant casualties.

Apart from launching a drive to chase away the elephants, the department has also adopted the “herbal fencing” method to prevent further aggression of the elephants to the villages. The “chilli grease fencing” has been installed at five villages — Hathimunda, Sataranda, Bhalukasuni, Bayar Sahi and Buddhi Sahi .

The fencing is made by hanging the jute sacks treated with dry chilli powder after soaking it in burnt engine oil. This method has been adopted for the first time at these five villages of Nilgiri near Mayurbhanj border following the advice of wildlife activist and elephant behaviour expert Rudraditya.