Rourkela: Panic swept through the NIT Rourkela campus on Tuesday after a female elephant and a calf strayed into the institute, forcing classes to halt and prompting an hours-long operation by forest officials to prevent the animals from entering residential and academic zones.Forest teams, led by Rourkela DFO Jashabanta Sethi, rushed to the spot and monitored the movement of the two elephants before finally driving them out of the campus by evening. A separate squad was simultaneously engaged in pushing back another group of three elephants that had moved towards Jagda.
The adult female and calf were part of a 21-member herd that had entered the reserve forest under Santoshpur panchayat in Bisra block earlier in the day. The herd later split, with two entering the NIT-R campus and three heading towards Jagda.On receiving information, forest and police personnel inspected the area and erected temporary solar fencing to block the movement of the animals towards hostels, staff quarters and academic buildings. The officials kept close watch for several hours and waited for an opportune moment to guide the elephants out without causing panic.Following reports of elephant movement on the campus, NIT-R authorities issued advisories urging students to remain indoors and avoid unnecessary movement. Fear and anxiety spread among students, faculty, staff and residents as the two elephants roamed in the institute.By evening, the forest squad successfully drove the elephants out, who later moved towards a nearby hill. The second team continued efforts to push back the other three elephants.“The two elephants have been driven out of the NIT campus. Our teams are closely monitoring their movement. Operations to drive away the three elephants in Jagda are also underway,” Sethi said.
