GUWAHATI: Human-elephant conflict has claimed more lives in the state this year than natural disasters or insurgency-linked violence. According to the city-based biodiversity conservation organization Aaranyak, 64 humans and 53 elephants were killed in various parts of the state this year. On the other hand, 53 people died due to drowning and landslides in the three waves of flood that ravaged the state between June and September this year.
“The casualty data of humans and elephants have been collated from each and every incident of conflict that has occurred in different parts of the state. Most of the figures are collated from news reports from the information sourced from the spot of conflict,” Aaranyak secretary general Bibhab Talukdar said.
Talukdar, who is also the chairman of the Asian Rhino Specialist Group and the Asia coordinator of International Rhino Foundation, said the casualty data is a “grim indicator” that things are not going in the right direction. “This is very serious. Sixty four people and 53 elephants killed in less than a year. The casualty figure is more than the loss of life due to natural disaster or any other calamity. It seems that a proactive mitigation system for long-term and short-term conservation is not working,” Talukdar said.
Conceding that human-elephant conflict is taking a serious turn in the state, forest minister Parimal Suklyabaidya has instructed the forest department to identify conflict-prone areas and set up control rooms equipped with adequate manpower and equipment to come to rescue of humans and jumbos at short notice.
“There is a need for a long-term solution by taking measures so that elephants do not come out of their habitats and enter human settlements in search of food. For the short-term, we have to ensure that our personnel respond promptly to such conflict situations. That is why I have asked for well-equipped control rooms in conflict-prone areas,” Suklabaidya said.
Forest department officials said control rooms with rapid response teams will be set up at twelve divisions with immediate effect. Every control room shall have an advisory committee with representatives of local organisations. The gap of manpower in human-elephant conflict-affected districts will be filled up immediately by transferring staff from other divisions. The office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Head of Forestry Force (PCCF & HoFF) will look into the matter, they said.
Elephant conservationists said destruction of corridors used by elephants and their habitats because of various developmental activities has aggravated the conflict. In the last one-and-half years, at least 15 elephants were killed in collisions with moving trains in different parts of the state. It has been found that the majority of the casualties happened outside the identified corridors used by elephants to cross the railway tracks, a stark indication that jumbos are not following the paths they used to earlier.
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