JORHAT, Dec 16 - Following the trampling of Ganesh Karmakar, a tea garden worker of Kharikatia Tea Estate under Mariani Range of Jorhat Forest Division by a herd of wild elephants in the wee hours on Friday, the historic Dhodor Ali was blocked from 10 am to 1.30 pm on Saturday by members of several organisations, including the Assam Tea Tribes Students� Association as well as the Mariani MLA of the Congress party Rupjyoti Kurmi.
Karmakar was accompanied by a friend who, however, managed to return unharmed.
ATTSA�s Jorhat district unit vice president Deepak Tanti said that the blockade was withdrawn after Foresr Department and Titabar Sub-Divisional administration officials arrived at the spot and reportedly assured them that adequate compensation would be paid to the family of the deceased as per Government norms.
He said that ATTSA has further demanded that Karmakar�s son should be given a temporary job in the Forest Department immediately.
Tanti also said that ATTSA had demanded compensation for all the farmers who had lost their crops to elephant depredation in the past few years, which the Forest Department has reportedly assured as per existing provisions of the Government for paying compensation to people affected by wild animals.
A senior Forest Department official said that a herd of about 50 elephants inhabiting the Hollongapar Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary often wrecked havoc in paddy fields and vegetable plantations in adjoining villages and tea estates destroyed crop and dwellings.
Several jumbos had also been hit by trains and killed on the railway track which passes through the sanctuary or electrocuted by high tension wires passing overhead inside villages and tea gardens in the past few years.
