In a bid to deal with rising cases of human-elephant conflict in Surguja, Bilaspur and other forest circles affected by elphant menace, the Chhattisgarh Forest Department is planning to train forest officers, field staffs and villagers in basic self-defence techniques.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) (Wildlife) Chhattisgarh BN Dwivedi said that forest officers, field staff and villagers from elephant conflict-prone areas of the State would be trained and equipped to deal with the situation.
The Forest Department is also planning to give food grains in place of money to farmers, whose crops were damaged by elephants. In this regard, the Department will forward a proposal to the State government. The victim farmers will use grains for their food purposes. If the Government approves this proposal, it will be executed, Dwivedi said.
Chief Conservator of Forest Surguja Forest Circle SK Singh said that 17 people including four women were killed by the elephants within one year in Surguja Forest Circle.
Around 8,703 cases of crop damage and 340 cases of house damage have been reported from Surguja Forest Circle last year. A total of Rs 1,72,86,643 has been given to the farmers as compensation to their loss of crops while Rs 15,66,411 has been distributed for 340 cases of house damage, he said.
Forest officers and field staffs from elephant affected areas will be sent for exposure visit to Jharkhand and Maharashtra to learn how to deal with elephant conflict situations so that they could learn how the officers from these states are dealing with conflict situations. later these officers will be used as Trainers of Trainees (TOT), SK Singh said.
“PCCF (Wildlife) has instructed me to prepare a plan in connection with human elephant conflict management. A tentative plan will be sent to the PCCF within one month, in which work plan and cost will be mentioned,” the CCF Surguja said.
Habitat improvement, plantation of grass species, water bodies and other works will be carried out.
Meanwhile, a two-day workshop on Human Elephant Conflict Management organized by Forest Department Chhattisgarh concluded at Van Sree Hall Ambikapur on Tuesday. The winners, who participated in competitions organized on the occasion of World Environment Day, were given away prizes.