<p> A wild elephant has caused much damage to areca and banana plantations in Paravarakotya of Shiradi village on Wednesday night. Pepper, banana and areca crops of farmers E M Cyriac and P J Mathew have been destroyed. The elephant has damaged a pump house and pipes meant for irrigation.<br /><br />Mathew said he was awakened at around 1 am, and by that the time the elephant had caused much damage to his plantation. The elephant was in the plantation till early morning. <br /><br />Some truck drivers said they had frequently noticed tuskers crossing the national highway (NH 48) in the recent times. <br /><br />An elephant calf had been found dead near Paravarakotya about 10 days ago. <br />The locals suspect that the present elephant might be the mother of the dead calf, and it might have been searching its calf.<br /><br />However, the menace has caused a lot of apprehension among the locals.</p>
<p> A wild elephant has caused much damage to areca and banana plantations in Paravarakotya of Shiradi village on Wednesday night. Pepper, banana and areca crops of farmers E M Cyriac and P J Mathew have been destroyed. The elephant has damaged a pump house and pipes meant for irrigation.<br /><br />Mathew said he was awakened at around 1 am, and by that the time the elephant had caused much damage to his plantation. The elephant was in the plantation till early morning. <br /><br />Some truck drivers said they had frequently noticed tuskers crossing the national highway (NH 48) in the recent times. <br /><br />An elephant calf had been found dead near Paravarakotya about 10 days ago. <br />The locals suspect that the present elephant might be the mother of the dead calf, and it might have been searching its calf.<br /><br />However, the menace has caused a lot of apprehension among the locals.</p>