Herds of wild elephants raid Ududumbara and Minipe areas in Kandy destroying houses in search of newly harvested paddy.
Farmers of Minipe, Hasalaka and Udadumbara keep paddy in their houses as they are without proper storage facilities.
Kandy District Secretary, Chandana Tennakoon visited the house of a farmer destroyed by elepheants in Kongahaela, Hasalaka.
The victim informed the District Secretary Tennakoon that a herd of elephants including young ones were roaming and had attacked his house.
Similar complaints were made to the District Secretary by farmers at Minipe, Hasalaka, Welgala, Ulpathagama and Udunuwara.
The farmers said at least they should be provided with an adequate number of elephant crackers to scare the elephants away. The farmers had to travel about 30 km to the Randenigala Wildlife Office office to receive one cracker each, they said, adding that they needed many more.
District Secretary Tennakoon told the farmers that steps would be taken to resolve the issue this year by putting up an elephant fence around the affected villages of Ududumbara, Medsadumbara, Minipe and Hasalaka sector.
The project would cost about Rs. 100 million. The length of the fence would be about 43 km, he said.
Divisional Secretary of Minipe, Nuwan Hemachandra and Deputy Director of Plan Implementation, Palitha Rajapakse were present.
