As many as nine elephants damaged have damaged crops worth several lakhs in the villages of Bobbili and Vangara mandals of Vizianagaram district, causing untold misery to farmers.The wild animals entered the Bobbili area from Parvatipuram-Manyam district a few days ago and moved into the villages of Shivadavalasa, Kammavalasa and Muttavalasa and damaged banana crops and recently planted coconut saplings in those villages.Rajam MLA and former minister Kondru Muralimohan urged the forest department to take steps to protect the crops from wild animals. He suggested the deployment of more trackers to drive the elephants back into the forest.Rythu Coolie Sangham of Andhra Pradesh State Secretary Dantuli Varma alleged that the forest department and revenue departments were not taking steps quickly to assess the damage done by the movement of wild elephants. He urged the government to order assessment of damage quickly so that farmers would get compensation.Parvatipuram District Forest Officer GAP Prasuna said that a rehabilitation centre was proposed in Parvathipuram district and it would be taken up with ₹3 crore funds. She said that the department was waiting for the budgetary allocation for the proposed rehabilitation centre where the wild animals would be kept under the supervision of experts.Published - June 26, 2025 06:30 pm IST