KRISHNAGIRI: Four elephants damaged ragi, tomato, cabbage and paddy crops in two acres near land near Denkanikottai in Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu in the early hours of Tuesday.
A herd of four elephants came out from Denkanikottai reserve forest on Friday. They had been camping near to Denkanikottai village for the last four days, farmers said.
“These elephants entered my agriculture field and damaged the crops,” said P Kandasamy, 50, of Pattalamman temple area in Denkanikottai. He lost ragi, tomato and cabbage in nearly two acres of land. Kandasamy said he had lost crops worth Rs 5 lakh.
Farmers in Denkanikottai urged forest officials to chase the elephants into forest. Forest officials said they were monitoring the elephant movement.
At present, the elephants camped at Denkanikottai reserve forest. They may enter the human habitant at any time. “So we are camping on the village-forest border until the elephants are chased to Karnataka reserve forest,” the officials added.
Farmers demanded that government give them compensation for the damaged crops.