Referring to the human-elephant conflict, environmentalist Ritesh Joshi said, “The problem began when these forest areas were taken over by farmers seeking agricultural land. More and more new settlements by villagers are pushing right up to the park boundary and some have even encroached into the forest reserve. The population density in the areas on the boundaries of Rajaji has increased considerably. As a result the competition for resources between humans and wildlife has intensified.”
Many incidents of human-elephant conflict have occurred so far with the forest department being unable to find an effective solution to curb this conflict, added Joshi.
Speaking to The Pioneer, Haridwar range officer of Rajaji tiger reserve, DP Uniyal said, “Building of a security wall for settlements on fringes of Rajaji has been undertaken and also completed in many areas. Seeds of mixed varieties are also dispersed in the Rajaji area during its closure period to provide elephant fodder inside the tiger reserve.”