The human-animal conflict is on the rise in which elephants are the worst sufferer. Every year, about 50 elephants die because of poaching, electrocution and rail accidents in Odisha.
If this trend continues unabated, elephants will disappear soon. Odisha, the ancient Kalinga, was always known for its elephants. Because of possessing large numbers of war elephants, the monarchs of Kalinga were adorned with the title of Gajapati. Chodaganga Deva (1078-1150 AD) was styled as Nava navati sahasra kunjaradiswara (lord of ninety nine thousand elephants) and Kapilendra Deva (1435-1467 AD) inherited two hundred thousand elephants at the time of his accession to the throne.
Elephants have been declared as the heritage animal of India. With an aim to protect the elephants under the Haati Amara Saathi Campaign, the Save Elephant Foundation Trust invited experts to deliver lectures to create awareness among the students of two educational institutions in Bhubaneswar, the Rajdhani Engineering College and the Dharma Vihar Saraswati SishuVidya Mandir on Wednesday.
State Chief Conservator Forests Dr Debabrata Swain joined the programme as the chief guest and State Silviculturist Abhimanyu Behera, Bhubaneswar DFO Jayant Kumar Das, eminent wildlife researcher Dr lala Ashwin Kumar Singh and founder of Ever Green Forum Er Prakash Chandra Jena as guests of honour.
Secretary of Rajdhani Engineering College Dr Sharad Chandra Panda, Principal Dr Bimal Sarangi, Director Dr Gouri Shankar Mishra and Ramesh Chowdhury were present.
At both the educational institutions, all the lecturers and teachers and over 1,500 students participated in the programme.
At the Rajdhani Engineering College, an essay competition on ‘Role of engineers in conservation of elephants’ was held and the students were awarded for the best essays.