Rourkela: A herd of seven elephants was chased out of the Fertilizer Township here on Thursday.
The elephants entered the township from the nearby Sona Parbat reserve forest early in the morning and stayed put at the Sona Udyan at Sector 22 till late evening.
After being informed, divisional forest officer (Rourkela) Sanjit Kumar, assistant conservator of forests (Rourkela) P K Dhal and a 21-member elephant driving squad reached the spot. A platoon of police was deployed at the spot to prevent any untoward incident. The operation began in the afternoon and the squad managed to chase the herd into the forest. “The elephants damaged boundary walls of a few buildings, including a school, on their way back to the forest,” said Dhal. The herd comprised three tuskers, two female elephants and two calves.Dhal said the elephants had been roaming in the reserve forest spread across 67 hectares since February.
“The herd has made the forest its home because of the good green cover and a water reservoir. To keep them away from the city, we plan to put up solar fences,” he added.