Human-animal conflict: ‘Carry out extensive awareness among villagers’

MP, 10 Jan 2025, Kolkata: The state government has directed the district magistrates (DM) of several districts of North and South Bengal, especially in the forest adjoining areas to start extensive awareness drives among local people in order to check human-animal conflict. 

State government is concerned with the series of recent incidents in which elephants entered the localities and caused damages. Chief Secretary Manoj Pant held a meeting with the forest officials and DMs of various North and South Bengal districts on Thursday giving an outline on what steps can be taken to check human-animal conflicts in the forest adjoining areas. 

According to sources, the Chief Secretary has directed the officers to carry out awareness among the villagers residing in those forest adjoining areas where the elephants often enter. 

The state government had earlier drawn the attention of the Centre towards the importance of identifying new elephant corridors as they have been changing their routes. The state had also sought cooperation from the Centre to set up elephant corridors to check the incidents of human-animal conflict. 

State Forest department officials had also touched upon several issues with the Centre. The forest areas have been shrinking in the past few years. 

The animals are entering the human habitat due to unavailability of food in the forest. In Bengal, around 57 people died in elephant attacks in 2022-23 while in 2021-22 the number remained at 77. The figure was registered at 117 in 2020-21 and 134 in 2019-20. 

The Bengal government provides a huge amount of compensation to the victims’ family members unlike other states. The Bengal government also provides employment to a family member of the victim. 

A pair of wild tuskers brought the town of Falakata in Alipurduar to a standstill, forcing authorities to impose prohibitory orders and confine residents to their homes for nearly 10 hours on Thursday. 

To ensure the safety of children, a closure was declared in 10 schools, including primary and secondary. The elephants caused widespread panic, prompting the deployment of two trained (kumki) elephants from Jaldapara to drive the tuskers back to the forest on Thursday evening. 

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/mamata-begins-assessing-performance-ofeach-min-to-build-yet-more-efficient-govt-594327