Unrestricted felling of trees and encroachment have reduced more than half of the forest in Sonitpur district of Assam that boasts of a combined territory of 13 forests reserves. With encroachments, herds of wild elephants frequently migrated to villages in search of food and as a result destroyed standing crops worth crores of rupees, besides killing 190 people in the last decade in East and West Sonitpur divisions. According to the officials, 9,376 hectares of Chariduar forest and 9,956 hectares of Gohpur reserve forest have been denunded by militants living in the vicinity of these forests.