MYSORE: A wild tusker dampened Diwali in Heggadevana Kote town and surrounding villages, destroying crops, houses and shops. Children and people eagerly waiting to celebrate the festival, were forced to stay indoors following appeals by the Forest Department after the elephant was sighted in the town around 4 am. When the 16-year-old wild tusker was first sighted near a tank in Chakkodanahalli on Tuesday morning, forest officials and villagers managed to chase it by bursting crackers. However, it managed to enter a farm of one Srinivas and damaged his house and went into a bamboo grove in the evening. A lone woman in the forest had a miraculous escape as she locked herself in a room on seeing the tusker. The forest personnel and people, who presumed that the elephant had returned to the forest, left the place. However, after the tusker surfaced in Heggadapura and was sighted on Mettikuppe Road around 3 am, officials altered the people. The tusker entered municipal member Nagaraj’s house and damaged a pit and gate and also damaged the compound wall of one Srinidhi. At Shanthipura, it destroyed crops of PLD bank president Shankerlinge Gowda and spread panic and destruction in Konnegoundanahalli and Chakkodanahalli. The tired elephant took shelter in shrubs and fields, ignoring crackers. The officials’ efforts were hampered as vet Nagaraj, experienced in tranquillising elephants, has been transferred.However, authorities hope to drive the tusker away with the help of elephants Arjuna and Mary, which were brought from Balle elephant camp.
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