OOTY: With at least four herds of wild jumbos that strayed into the Geddai limits in Kundah slopes and making regular movements in the TNEB camp in Geddai hydro-power house limits there, life has become nightmarish for the residents there as they look up to the foresters to sort out this issue to check the straying of jumbos into the human settlements there.
Though wild jumbos straying into roadsides along the Manjoor-Geddai-Mettupalayam road had been sporadic in the past, in the recent past the way the herds of jumbos straying into this road as well the human habitations often there made one wonder whether these jumbos tried to establish their home range there.
As the residents in Geddai, especially those reside in the TNEB quarters there, have become panic-stricken, with the jumbo movements crippling their regular life and movement around there, making even commuting tough for the those TNEB staff working in the hydro-power house there. It appears that the man-elephant conflict has reached an alarming stage there which warrants urgent steps from the forest department to tackle this issue. Residents in Geddai want immediate action, including digging trenches, to keep the wild jumbos at bay.
