Bengaluru: In response to the recent surge in wild elephant movement in Dakshina Kannada district, Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister Eshwar Khandre has approved the formation of a dedicated elephant task force consisting of 48 personnel to drive elephants back into forest areas.

The task force will be headed by the Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) of Mangaluru Division. It will include one Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF), one veterinary officer, one Range Forest Officer, four Deputy Range Forest Officers, eight forest guards, and thirty-two outsourced frontline staff.

The elephant task force will patrol residential areas, farmlands, and plantations close to forest boundaries where wild elephants are sighted. In such cases, the team will act swiftly to drive the elephants back into the forest. It will also alert the district’s control room, which in turn will issue precautionary messages to residents.

Minister Khandre stated that this initiative will help reduce crop damage caused by elephant incursions and prevent potential loss of human life.

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Surapura: In a tragic road accident reported from the taluk, six people were burnt alive in a collision between a private bus and a car on the Bidar-Bengaluru Highway near the Shanthapura Cross close to the Thinthani Bridge on Friday morning.

A fire broke out due to the force of the collision, and both vehicles were gutted in the flames.

The bus is learned to have been traveling from Lingasugur to Kalaburagi, and the car was going towards Lingasugur. While none of the passengers in the bus was reportedly endangered in the accident, all six people traveling the car died in the accident and are learned to have burnt in the fire.

The local fire brigade has successfully doused the flames.

Inspector Umesh M and team of the Surapura Police Station is learned to have arrived at the accident spot and conducted an inspection.

The skulls of four people are said to have been found among the debris.