Nilgais (blue bulls) and langurs have trebled the miseries of the farmers in the drought hit Palamu. Herds of blue bulls and langurs are raiding crops of potatoes, tomatoes, brinjals, maize and gulping it and destroying it with all glee.
The helpless farmers are a mere spectator to this crop loss. Baijnath Mahto a noted farmer of village Sukri under Chainpur block said, “It is too big and hard times for us. We have lost paddy.
And these herds of blue bulls and langurs have made our lives miserable. Blue bulls attack our veggies at night while langurs are free to do this 24X7.” “Our veggies are destroyed and eaten by them right before our eyes. We can’t do anything. We just drive them way but this is no solution. The herds of blue bulls and langurs cross over from one place to another. They create identical problems everywhere,” lamented Mahto.
Everyone fears to touch them. Nilgai has this suffix ‘gai’ and this sends down the shivers in the spines while langurs are seen as ‘Hanuman ji’. Mahto said, “We are caught in a no win situation. We are to suffer and curse ourselves.”
Problem of this nature is too acute in villages like Karakat, Sukri, Booree Beer, Ulmaang etc under Chainpur block. About a dozen villages falling each in Bishrampur, Paton, Hussainabad, Chhaterpur and Mohammadganj blocks face similar problems.
Deputy Commissioner Palamu, Shantanu Kumar Agrahari said, “We will ask the forest department here to take some measures to contain the spree of damages of crops by these wild life.
Blue bulls and langurs come under wild life protection act. We will see that forest officials push them into Palamu tiger reserve where these two will have plenty of feed and habitat.”
Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Medininagar Kumar Ashish said, “There is a great menace of these two animals. These are harming farmers. We are paying crop compensation.”
Ashish further said, “This financial year we have paid Rs 8 lakh as crop compensation. It will increase further. The animals are up with their destruction and damage spree.”
Reminded that Bihar government once hired an ace shooter Shujaat Khan to fell male blue bulls there and the man got many of them flattened to which Ashish said, “This happened there in Bihar but it led to a great outcry there too. There were many voices raised against this. We can’t go for it here in Jharkhand. I am not competent anymore to shed more light on it if Bihar’s dealing with blue bulls there can be replicated here”.
Farmer Mahto said one thing more, “Chainpur forest office demands proof of destruction of crop by blue bulls and langurs. Forest officials ask for live photographs of animals raiding or destroying their crops. This is too bizarre a demand. How can we the farmers know at night as to when these herds will descend on their crops?”
What this farmer said is no utterance in any anger. A forest official requesting anonymity said, “When elephants raid any standing crop they leave behind their huge foot prints. Sometimes they discharge their dung too at the site.
These are concrete proofs of their raiding. But in the case of raid by blue bulls and langurs there is left no visible and prominent foot prints etc.”
When this issue was raised before DFO Ashish he said, “There is some communication gap. No visual of live destruction is required for compensation.
All that is needed for payment of compensation is land ownership document, up to date lagan receipt and measurement of area where destruction and damage has been done by etc. This is done and calculated with a joint sitting of forest official and revenue officials.”
Asish said, “We have tried to push these herds of blue bulls and langurs in Palamu tiger reserve but that reserve too is full of their wild life these do not stay put there and again come in human habitation space.”