13 thoroughfares across Indo-Bangla border for jumbos

India and Bangladesh have agreed to create 13 thoroughfares across the border fences in Assam and Meghalaya to let elephants make to-and-fro movements between the two countries, the officials said here today.

"Trans-border migration is a natural process and we have identified certain points (30 initially) but we have zeroed down to 13 points to allow to-and-fro migration of elephants in their natural habitats," India s Director General of Forests and Special Secretary to the Government of India Siddhanta Das told reporters.

At these identified thoroughfares for the jumbos, the fence would be broken and special gates would be built for their safe passage, he said.

Both the countries have also decided to constitute a Joint Working Group to draft protocols and Standard Operating Procedures for trans-boundary conservation and management of elephants and their movements between the two countries.

Das said 12 of these points are in Meghalaya and one in Assam and we do not want to create a barrier against the natural movement of the elephants.

The opening of the border fencing along the Indo- Bangladesh border for elephants is one of the 18 agreed points of action signed by top forests officials of both the countries at the 2nd Indo-Bangladesh dialogue for trans- boundary conservation of elephants here.

The other agreements included the one to discourage and regulate erection of electric fences for protection of agriculture and horticulture crops in the areas falling in the identified migratory corridors to prevent death of elephants from electrocution, he said.

District deputy commissioners of both the countries will also be empowered to permit trans-boundary movement of elephant rescue teams.

With both the countries having similar concerns for elephants, Das said, "Within 60 days, we will constitute a Joint Working Group to evolve and develop protocols and Standard Operating Procedures for trans-boundary conservation and management of elephants in India-Bangladesh landscape." He said the agreed action points should lead to signing of an official protocol between India and Bangladesh on trans-boundary conservation of elephants, Das said.

The third round of dialogue is expected to take place in Bangladesh by June next year.

The forest officials from the states of Assam, Meghalaya, West Bengal and Tripura and an 11-member team from Bangladesh attended the 2nd Indo-Bangladesh dialogue for trans-boundary conservation of elephants here and discussed at length on how best to coordinate the free, to-and-fro movements of the pachyderms across the international border and prevent their poaching.

"It was agreed (in 2015) to develop an operational guideline to handle trans-boundary movement of elephants and as a follow up action of this, dialogue is on and the protocol or else a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two countries is expected soon," Bangladesh Chief Conservator of Forest, Md Shafiul Alam Chowdhury said.

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