“Rogue” elephant tranquilised in Goalpara forest

GUWAHATI: The “rogue” elephant which trampled five persons to death within 24 hours in Goalpara district on October 29 was tranquilised in a forest under Rongjuli range on Monday.

Interestingly, the entire operation of tranquilising the elephant was undertaken under the leadership of Sootea MLA, Padma Hazarika with the help of his aides and forest officials.

Chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal congratulated Hazarika for successfully capturing the wild elephant that was creating havoc in Goalpara district for the past few days.

In a statement, Sonowal said, “Hazarika’s feat in capturing the wild elephant is highly praiseworthy. As a true public representative, the Sootea MLA offered his help to the forest department to provide succour to the people who were living under constant fear of attack by the wild tusker. His success in capturing the elephant is an example of his expertise in the field”.

It may be mentioned that MLA Hazarika earlier offered his help to the forest department in the operation to capture the wild elephant.

An urgent meeting of the state forest department chaired by the Assam forest minister on November 4 decided to tranquilise and relocate the tuskless male elephant after it was located with the help of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) at the Kheropara reserve forest (Satabari).

Forest officials reiterated that the elephant tranquilised “in a scientific manner” on Monday was not the bigger tuskless male elephant, “Laden”, which reportedly killed over 30 people in the border district in the past couple of years.