(IN): Man-elephant conflict assumes serious proportions in Jorhat

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*Man-elephant conflict assumes serious proportions in Jorhat

* From A Correspondent

JORHAT, Nov 25 – The man-elephant conflict in Jorhat district has been

spiralling out of control due to lack of any foolproof strategy to mitigate

it. The latest depredations caused by a herd of wild jumbos in the riverine

areas of north-east and east Jorhat – Neamati, Hatisal, Meleng and

Jhanjimukh – point towards the failure of the authorities concerned to put

together a concrete plan to address the menace which has already assumed

disturbing proportions.

 

In a serious repercussion, a full-grown tusker was found injured in

Amlokhisiga area, about 5 km from Neamati, on Friday. It had been hit on its

legs with arrows, sources said, adding that forest officials were observing

the jumbo, which would be tranquilised, if necessary, for administering

treatment.

 

Personnel of Jorhat Forest Division, too, have been facing the ire of

villagers during their efforts to chase the jumbo herd away from the

human-inhabited areas.

 

In an unsavoury development on Friday evening, residents of Lahkar village

near Meleng in east Jorhat manhandled forest workers travelling in two

vehicles. The irate villagers damaged a searchlight and took away kerosene

cans. They also tried to snatch away the rifles of the forest workers who

were later rescued by the Jorhat Divisional Forest Officer, police and CRPF

personnel.

 

This came close on the heels of the manhandling of two forest workers by

Mising villagers in Mithaisapori, a few days back. The villagers thought

that the forest personnel were intentionally driving the marauding elephants

to their fields.

 

According to a report prepared by Jorhat Forest Division a couple of years

back, the relationship between man and elephant within the district had

turned sour since 1982. A herd of wild elephants used to visit Hollongapar

Forest Reserve, now christened Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary, from the nearby

Naga Hills without causing much harm to the residents in the fringe areas.

However, when the herd, comprising about 12 to 18 elephants, established

permanent habitat in the forest land here, the man-elephant conflict came to

the fore and it has been on the rise since then, Jorhat Forest Division

sources said.

 

Unabated deforestation in Nagaland is considered the prime reason for the

relocation of the elephants within Gibbon sanctuary. The rise in the number

of pachyderms – which now stands at about 43 – since the last two decades,

has led to increased depredations by them in the adjoining villages along

the sanctuary. The appearance of a 100-odd strong herd in the chaporis of

Majuli subdivision since 1999 has added to the spectre of man-elephant

conflict in the district. As there is no known habitat along Brahmaputra

River, the antecedents of these elephants have not been established, the

sources pointed out.

 

But this 'seasonal' herd has been wreaking maximum havoc as it strikes twice

a year at the time of cultivation of sali and ahu crops. The current trail

of destruction in the district is believed to have been caused by these

chapori-based elephants.

 

As many as 50 people have lost their lives in jumbo attacks within Jorhat

Forest Division since 1982. The elephants, in turn, have also been victims

of angry retaliation by human beings. The forest report puts the total

number of jumbo deaths since 2001 at seven.

 

 

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