Karnataka: Two taluk officers hurt while escaping from elephant in Hassan

HASSAN: A tahsildar and a land surveyor who were clearing encroachment of temple land suffered injuries while trying to escape from an elephant in a village in Hassan district on Saturday evening.District officials said Alur tahsildar Shirin Taj and land surveyor Kumar stumbled and fell down as the elephant trumpeted and raced towards them in Harihalli village of Sakaleshpur taluk.They were participating in a village stay programme held on the premises of Kenchamba temple in Harihalli. The tahsildar chaired the programme, which was attended by Sakaleshpur MLA HK Kumaraswamy and taluk officers. After the programme ended, sources said, the tahsildar with other officers had lunch and then started looking into encroachment of the temple land.A dozen jumbos were at the field, claim villagersRevenue inspector Vasanth Kumar told TOI: "Around 3.30pm, we heard an elephant trumpeting. The officials and villagers got scared and ran for cover while the tahsildar, surveyor Kumar and I could not escape easily. In the meele, the tahsildar fell down and some officials rushed to help her. Then surveyor Kumar stumbled and crashed into a soil clod, hurting his chest. They were taken to the community health centre at Rayarakoppalu and administered the first aid."The officers spotted an elephant and its calf, but villagers said there were about a dozen elephants in the herd at the spot. Recently, elephants killed two agricultural workers in the area, leading to a snap protest by villagers demanding action from the forest department. Since the elephant corridor has been fragmented in the region, jumbos are raiding villages leading to frequent man-animal conflicts.