Last year, an elephant demolished the wall of a Sundar Tharu's house in Ishwariganj Mahila Tole, Rajapur Municipality-9. Coincidentally, after staying at home all day, the Tharu and his family went to a relative's house for a feast, so there were no casualties.

The elephant demolished the wall of his brick house. He has started living elsewhere due to fear of elephants, said former Barghar Bishnu Chaudhary. The elephants have damaged the houses of Devi Lal Wali, Sharmila Tharu, Mangal Thapa, Bishnu Devi Khatri and others in this village for the past year, said Badghar Chaudhary. 

Elephants have damaged the wheat and mustard fields of dozens of farmers, including Bishnu Devi Khatri, this week. Bishnu Devi said that elephants have damaged wheat and mustard crops four times in a row this week. ‘Now I no longer want to see the damage done to the fields,’ she said, ‘The terror of elephants has made it difficult to save not only the crops of the farmers but also their lives.’

For a decade, elephant attacks have spread fear and loss of property in Ishwariganj, Shankarpur and the surrounding areas, which are connected to the Indian border with Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary. Locals said that four people have died in elephant attacks in this area in the past ten years. Local Ghanshyam Khatri said that not a day has passed without elephants, tigers and leopards. 

‘We have been keeping vigil every evening due to the wild animals coming from the reserve adjacent to the border,’ he said, ‘The residents of Mahila Tole, a settlement established in the name of landless people about 40 years ago, have to live in fear of wild animals every day.’ So far, the residents of this settlement have not received land ownership certificates from the commission.

Locals said that dozens of elephants enter this area at night and damage crops and houses. An electric fence was constructed from Rajapur Municipality’s boundary pillar number 87 to 98 at a cost of about Rs 6 million from the MP Development Fund.