With the paddy crop harvested, forest department officials in Gadchiroli, Gondia, and Navegaon have intensified the patrolling and monitoring of the herd of 23 elephants, which has come to Maharashtra from Chhattisgarh, as they might enter villages in search of grains.

Sagnik Sengupta, an elephant expert and co-founder of NGO Stripes and Green Earth Foundation (SAGE), said his team and forest staff are present on the ground to restrict the movement of the herd towards villages.