Man-elephant conflict on the rise Jumbo kills another

From our Correspondent

JORHAT, Dec 14: One Sunu Gowala (30) of Baghdhora line under Cinnamora Tea Estate of Jorhat district was killed in a jumbo attack at around 10.30 pm last night. According to the information, the elephant attacked the man while he was coming out from his house along with a number of villagers to see the jumbos. The herd also damaged as many as fifteen houses of the tea garden in the last two days. The jumbos smashed the 27 No. labour LP school of Cinnamora Tea Garden too. However, no forest officials in the district have arrived the spot until 11 am today.

The local people alleged that, the Forest Department of the district has been ignoring the matter since long. They have turned a deaf ear to the elephant depredation issue in the said areas after the repeated pleas of the people living there. They said, “No positive response from the department concerned have been received so far after witnessing so many rampages by the wild elephant in the area”.

The unabated man-elephant conflict in Jorhat district has taken a serious turn in the last few years. Two herd comprising more than hundred elephants have been creating menace in both North and South part of the district. Many people have lost their lives and more than ten have been injured in the current year so far.

When contacted JH Kuli, Conservator of Forest Jorhat district said that, due to the shortage of habitat land and lack of food, the wild elephants use to come out from the forest and creates havoc in the surrounding areas particularly the tea gardens near the Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary. He said, “The total area of the sanctuary is 36 square kilometre which is too small to subsist more than 80 elephants sheltering in the sanctuary”. When asked about the remedial steps taken up by the department to meet the dilemma he said, “We have taken up some short time measures like mobile fencing in the affected areas but due to the shortage of required staff, we have yet to come up with fruitful measures till now”. THE SENTINEL