Baghel for better action plan to reduce elephant-human conflict

In the wake of recent deaths of elephants in Chhattisgarh, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Wednesday said a better action plan was needed to curb the incidents of human-elephant conflict.

In the wake of recent deaths of elephants in Chhattisgarh, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Wednesday said a better action plan was needed to curb the incidents of human-elephant conflict. Baghel, who chaired a meeting of the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) here, also asked forest officials to spread awareness among people about elephant conservation.

Forest Minister Mohammad Akbar, Chief Secretary R P Mandal, Principal Secretary, Forest, Manoj Kumar Pingua and other officials were present at the meeting. "The forest department should ensure availability of food and water for wild elephants in their habitats in forests which can greatly help in preventing human-animal conflict," an official release quoted the chief minister as saying.

Baghel pointed out that there are an estimated 6,000 elephants in Kerala but incidents of human-elephant conflict are rarely reported from there. An initiative should be taken to make wild elephants human-friendly, he said.

The elephant is a very calm, intelligent and social animal and by understanding its nature and making people aware about the need for its conservation, conflicts can be reduced, he said. A better action plan was needed for this, he added.

The thickly forested northern Chhattisgarh, consisting of Surguja, Korba, Surajpur, Raigarh, Balrampur, Jashpur and Koriya districts, is known for human-elephant conflicts. The region regularly witnesses local people getting killed by elephants and the animals damaging crops and houses.

Sometimes farmers resort to fencing their fields with electrified wire, but it can electrocute animals. In the last three months, eight elephants have died in Chhattisgarh due to various reasons including electrocution.

Baghel had earlier ordered the constitution of a team of 10 people in every forest division affected by the elephant menace for continuous monitoring of their movements..