Tusker kills 50-year-old farmer near Kuppam

TIRUPATI: A 50-year-old man was trampled to death by a lone tusker near the tri-state border at Kuppam on Sunday.
The deceased was identified as Kanna Naik (50), a resident of PMK Thanda in Ramakuppam mandal.
According to the locals, Kanna Naik, who was a farmer by occupation, was on his way to PMK Thanda from Diguva Thanda, when a lone tusker trampled him to death.
Locals and farmers staged protests and demanded the state govt to initiate stringent measures to prevent tusker attacks which have become a perennial affair at Kuppam and several other parts of Chittoor district in the last few years.
Though tusker attacks and tusker related deaths have become more rampant in the last five years, very little was done by the successive state govts in addressing the tusker menace with a long-term perspective.
Even though the forest departments of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have held a series of meetings in the past to address the issue, nothing concrete that could prevent the tusker attacks was done.