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Visakhapatnam, Aug 26 : In another case of human-animal conflict, a man was trampled to death by wild elephants in Andhra Pradesh’s Parvathipuram Manyam district on Monday. The incident occurred in Vannam village in Komarada mandal when the man was returning home after taking a bath in a rivulet. Shivdi Naidu, 62, did not notice a herd of elephants on a banana plantation. He suddenly came under attack by the wild jumbos and died on the spot. The incident sent panic among villagers. Forest Department officials went on alert and launched an operation to drive away the elephants into forests. This is the latest in a series of man-elephant conflicts in Andhra Pradesh. Two weeks ago, a herd of wild elephants created havoc in Vizianagaram district, damaging crops and sending panic among people. A herd of jumbos strayed into a couple of villages in Vangara mandal and damaged the crops. Farmers were worried over the damage to their crops and have appealed to authorities to take immediate action to protect them from further losses. Vizianagaram and Parvathipuram Manyam districts, bordering Odisha, and Chittoor district, on the border with Karnataka, have witnessed several such incidents in recent months. In May, a farm worker was trampled to death by an elephant at a mango orchard abutting the Sarakallu forest beat of the Thavanampalle mandal in Chittoor. In June, an elephant trampled to death another farmer in Ramakuppam mandal in the same district. The Andhra Pradesh government recently sought help from Karnataka to address human-elephant conflict. Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan on August 8 met Karnataka’s Minister for Forest and Environment Eshwar Khandre in Bangalore and sought the help of the Karnataka Forest Department in dealing with the problem. At Pawan Kalyan’s request, the Karnataka government agreed to provide eight trained Kumki elephants to manage, drive away, and capture wild elephants. Kumki elephants are useful in taming wild elephants and thus keeping both animals and humans safe. In May, the Andhra Pradesh Forest Department officials had placed a request for Kumki elephants before their counterparts in Karnataka. Karnataka is reported to have given 67 kumki elephants to various states. In 2022-23, it provided 21 elephants to Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra.

Six persons drowned in two separate incidents in north Andhra Pradesh on Sunday. In the first incident, three boys drowned in the Jhanjhavathi rubber dam in Parvathipuram Manyam district of Andhra Pradesh on Sunday. The accident occurred when the boys were taking a bath in the dam across the Jhanjhavathi River in Komarada mandal. Sharat, Govind Naidu and Pradeep, all belonging to Sivini village in the same district, had gone to the dam along with their relatives. According to eyewitnesses, one boy was drowning while taking the bath. Two others tried to rescue him but in the process all three were washed away. On receipt of the information, police rushed to the dam and launched a search with the help of expert swimmers. Meanwhile, in another incident, a person died and two others went missing when a boat overturned in the Raiwada reservoir in Alluri Sitharamaraju district. The incident occurred in the reservoir near Jinapadu in Anantagiri mandal. Police with the help of expert swimmers recovered a body while search was on for the two others. The deceased was identified as Jeevan of Jinapadu. According to police, the accident occurred when the victims were returning to the bund after sailing in the country-made boat. Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister K. Atchenaidu spoke to officials about the incident in the Jhanjhavathi rubber dam. The officials informed him that the boys who drowned in the dam were from Sivini village in Komarada mandal.

Parvatipuram, one of the oldest towns of Andhra Pradesh, has finally become a district headquarters, following bifurcation of districts which would come into force on the day of Ugadi. Parvatipuram, one of the oldest towns of Andhra Pradesh, has finally become a district headquarters, following bifurcation of districts which would come into force on the day of Ugadi. Parvatipuram was one of the sub-divisional administrative centers during the British regime and became panchayat board in 1901. It is one of the business hubs as it is located very close to Odisha, Chattisgarh and other places. In Vizianagaram district, it is the second biggest town, located 70 km from Vizianagaram City.  Saluru, Parvatipuram, Kurupam Assembly constituencies of Vizianagaram district and Palakonda of Srikakulam district are now part of Parvatipuram-Manyam district. Parvatipuram is reserved for Scheduled Castes and three others are allocated for tribal people.

Bonela Vijaya Chandra meets Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and Minister Nara Lokesh, proposes agro-based industries to benefit tribal farmers and calls for improved educational infrastructure to drive local developmentParvatipuram MLA Bonela Vijaya Chandra on Sunday said that Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had responded positively to his request for the establishment of food processing units in Parvathipuram-Manyam district. He stated that agro-based industries would boost economic activity and generate local employment.

India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and gusty winds over Coastal Andhra Pradesh, East Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand for today. Similar weather conditions are expected over Madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada Rayalaseema, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and North Eastern states till tomorrow. The Weather Agency has further predicted hot and humid weather conditions over Kerala, Mahe, Konkan and Goa for the day. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority has issued a weather alert for several districts across the state, forecasting light to moderate rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms today. According to the agency, districts likely to receive rainfall at isolated places include Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Parvathipuram Manyam, Alluri Sitharama Raju, Polavaram region, Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli, Kakinada, Konaseema, East Godavari, West Godavari, Eluru, Krishna, NTR, and Guntur. In addition, light rain with thunderstorms is expected in parts of Bapatla, Palnadu, Markapuram, Prakasam, and Nellore districts.