Singra: In a bid to address the issue of man-elephant conflict, an awareness meeting on human-elephant conflict mitigation was organised at Singra in Assam’s Kamrup district on Saturday.
The awareness meet was organised by Kamrup West Division Forest Office in collaboration with Bondapara forest range and World Wide Fund (WWF), India. The meeting was funded by the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).
The meeting was presided over by the Kamrup West Division DFO Dimpy Bora. Boko MLA Nandita Das graced the occasion as a chief guest. WWF officials Hiten Baishya and David Smith took part in the meeting as resource persons.
More than 30 village headmen took part in the awareness meeting.
The main objective of organising the meeting was to sensitize people on the issue of human-animal conflict.
WWF official Hiten Baishya urged the village headmen to find ways to mitigate man-elephant conflict.
Baishya said, “Most of the time, elephants enter the villages and destroy the paddy fields and banana plantations. So the villagers or farmers can use fences of lemon trees to keep elephants away from crops and homes. Burning chillies and tobacco are major irritants for elephants. These measures can help combat elephant intrusions.”
DFO Dimpy Bora has appealed to the village headmen to look into the matter of encroachment in reserve forest areas.
“There is a rise in human encroachment on natural habitats. People have encroached on the reserve forest areas and much of the elephant habitat is under intensive cultivation. This is one of the reasons why jumbos stray into human settlements,” DFO Bora.
“To control man-elephant conflicts, the forest department has already made 17 Anti-Depredation Squad and one central squad in West Kamrup Divisional jurisdiction,” added DFO Dimpy Bora.
During the awareness meeting, DFO Dimpy Bora along with MLA Nandita Das distributed high-capacity torch lights and firecrackers to the 31 village headmen under Singra and Bondapara Range office.
“One should not use methods of violent retaliation to chase them away. People should stay calm and allow the elephants to leave the place without obstructing their paths. Then there are less chances of being attacked by elephants,” added MLA Nandita Das.
WWF Official David Smith said nowadays villagers are using electric fencing to save their paddy fields or cultivation from elephants and as a result of which sometimes elephants die due to electrocution.
“People should use solar-powered fencing by taking permission from the forest department so that both animal and people’s life can be saved from electrocution,” added David Smith.
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