Elephants from Suklaphanta Wildlife Reserve (SWR) have been terrorising the residents of Kanchanpur’s Bhimdatta Municipality in recent weeks.

Within past one week, the elephants have destroyed the crops planted on several hectares of land, said Gauri Ram Bhul of Gobariya settlement.

 The locals have been compelled to stay up all night to guard their crops, he added.

Gobariya, Sharadtol, Haritol and Radhakrishnatol have suffered the most from the recurring menace of rogue pachyderms.

Uttam Kumar Chaudhary, acting chief of SWR, said they were working to compensate the victims.

The SWR elephants have also been wreaking destruction in Baisebichawa, Shankarpur and Dekhatbhuli VDCs.

The affected villagers claimed that the SWR authority was doing very little to curb the elephants.