GUWAHATI: Assam environment and forest minister, Parimal Suklabaidya has said frontline forest staff would be recruited soon to fill up vacant posts in the department even as the human-elephant conflict, mainly triggered by rampant encroachment inside the state’s reserved forests, has escalated of late.
“We are aware of the problem and are therefore going to recruit a good number of frontline staff including forest guards very soon,” Suklabaidya, who was allotted the forest portfolio in a major reshuffle just about a couple of months back, told The Shillong Times.
Over the years, there has been a chronic shortage of frontline staff in the forest department with as many as 100 posts currently vacant across levels in Goalpara forest division and at least 26 posts vacant in Udalguri forest division.
Such shortage of frontline staff has affected monitoring and awareness creation activities in regard to mitigating the man-elephant conflict from time to time.
Besides, a majority of the staff currently on duty are above 50 years of age.
Three persons have died in the conflict in Udalguri forest division since April 26 while at least six persons have been trampled to death by a migratory elephant from Garo Hills over the past five months, prompting the department to take expert help to mitigate the conflict.
Encroachment apart, corridor blocks, lack of access to food triggered by perceptible habitat shrinkage have led herds to raid homes, granaries and mid-day meal schools.
Asked about the growing encroachments inside the reserved forests of both the divisions, Suklabaidya said a long-term plan was being chalked out to solve the problem of illegal human settlements in and around forest terrain, which is a “common phenomena in Assam.”
“I have just taken charge. But we are taking measures to mitigate the conflict the outcome of which will be visible only after two to three years. As of now, we have taken some measures to evict a small percentage of people who have illegally settled on forest land. But in the years to come, we will take measures to evict people who are occupying forest land in a big way,” the minister said.
Udalguri divisional forest officer, Madhurjya Sarma informed that over 6,000 hectares have been encroached under Udalguri forest division.
The problem is similar in Goalpara forest division near the Meghalaya border where encroachments are rampant and people engaged in rubber and banana plantations. There are 56 reserved forests and 47 proposed reserved forests covering 361 sq km under Goalpara forest division.
“The only difference is that the elephants in Udalguri forest division are residents while those in Goalpara forest division are migratory,” Sarma said.