State Forest Minister Mahesh Gagda on Monday sanctioned Rs10 crore to install solar lights in rural pockets affected by the menace of wild elephants so that human-elephant conflict could be checked.
The Minister also approved aerial survey of Chhattisgarh’s Eco-tourism destination Mainpat while directing officials to plant saplings in 200 acres of land.
Gagda while being the chief guest at the two-day National Workshop on human-elephant conflict at Ambikapur on Monday also immediately approved required funds for plantation work.
The Minister earlier inaugurated the workshop in which wildlife experts from Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are taking part.
Gagda later also inaugurated an ‘Elephant Help Centre’ at the office of Chief Conservator of Forest (CCF) Ambikapur. The prime objective of the workshop is to create coordination between human and elephants and prevent the conflict.
He also released ‘Elephant Help Center’ book which has the contact numbers of forest officials as well as experts who could be contacted in case of any untoward incident related with wild elephants. Notably Surguja region is facing the problem of wild elephant for more than two decades.
The Minister also flagged off three ‘Elephant Friend’ vehicles purchased from CAMPA (Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority). These vehicles would be deployed in Surguja, Balrampur and Jashpur districts each. Addressing the gathering, Gagda said: ‘We will have to treat wild elephants with sympathy.’
“We need to provide a chance for making the elephants pass silently instead of burning crackers and beating drums to drive them away,” he said and added that there is need for developing a system where we could track the movement of elephants and accordingly alert people living in that region.
He stressed over need for development of phone connectivity so that people could be informed beforehand about elephant movements.
“Elephants are attracted towards crops like sugarcane and ‘Mahua’ and are not interested in crops like turmeric and tobacco. We should think toward promoting such kinds of crops,” he said.
Gagda also stressed the need of ensuring sufficient availability of fodder in jungle there is need for large scale plantation.
For making available wild electricity in elephant affected region, fund of Rs10 crore has been sanctioned, he informed.
State Home Minister Ramsevak Paikara termed the holding of workshop an important step towards safety of wild animals particularly wild elephants.