The Forest department on Wednesday swung into action after Chief Minister Hemant Soren directed senior officials to deal with the growing incidents of man-animal conflict tactically in the State.
In a high-level meeting with all Regional Chief Conservators of Forest (RCCFs) Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) AK Malhotra instructed the department to releaseRs one crore to each of the six RCCFs under elephant depredation fund while Rs 1.5 core would be kept separately for them. Total fund kept for the five years programme is Rs 15 crore.
The money would be used in building watch towers, putting up solar lights, purchasing dragon torches and vehicles and raising anti-depredation teams. “I got three calls from the Chief Minister recently complaining about elephant attacks in various areas. A Minister also called me up and said that a herd has raided a village while he is present over there. Public outcry over the incident is a problem and our focus should be to minimise loss of property and life,” said Malhotra.
Shrinking forest cover and support system needed for wild elephants is said to be the main reason behind the direct conflict with human beings. A rough estimate suggests that wild pachyderms have caused about 800 human deaths since Jharkhand separated from Bihar in 2000 in Singhbhum, Hazaribagh, Dumka, Dalma, Ranchi and Palamau Tiger Reserve regions. From 26 casualties in 2009-10 it went up to 65 in 2011 while 93 persons were injured in the attack. Cases of property loss and house damage are also in high numbers. As many as 14 districts of the State are highly infested by the moving herds. However, the wild animal has also come at the receiving end in the form of poaching, electrocution and train accidents.
The PCCF mentioned that now onwards the RCCFs would be accountable for deploying the resources available to handle any incident of elephant raid taking place in the forest region and make preparations for that. Nevertheless, one major hurdle coming in executing the exercise is non-supply of solar lights from the Jharkhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (JREDA) to the department. Several officials present in the meeting also raised the issue that is there despite money being paid to the Agency.
The meeting also discussed to focus on entry and exit points for the elephants. “We have to identify focal points in all the areas prone to the elephant raids. Watch towers can be located where agricultural fields meet forest boundaries. These are the area where the wild animal comes in conflict with human. Also we all have to work in a coordinated manner to locate the herds moving in the State,” said the PCCF. He also directed the forest officials to be flexible in their approach as the object is moving and not static.