cuttack a herd of 17 elephants blocked the national highway 17 in cuttack district on wednesday forcing commuters to take a diversion many others were stranded for hours the animals also blocked the gurudijhatiamatsyapur railway trackslocals informed the forest department of the problem but alleged that they were yet to act according to the locals elephants often cross the railway tracks posing a huge risk to people travelling in trains as well as to the animals themselvesthe herd has strayed into the residential area from the chandaka sanctuary the animals have destroyed paddy over several acres of land during the harvest time leaving farmers distressed our livelihood is badly affected due to the movement of elephants we have raised the issue with the forest officials but our pleas have fallen on deaf ears said sudhakar behera a local residentdivisional forest officer athagarh sasmita lenka said every year the herd moves from chandaka forest to athagarh forest region in search of food our forest personnel are engaged in rerouting the herd but as the highways are inside the forest sighting of the animals is natural