Forest dept initiates projects to curb encounter
SHILLONG: As the man-elephant conflict refuses to die down, the state Forest department has come up with different measure to prevent the man-elephant conflict despite limited resources and one of them is to make people aware to keep granary and country made liquor away from their homes.
The Shillong Times spoke to an official in the Forest Department and he said that the forest department is taking preventive measures to minimise the conflict. “We are prioritising in mapping the areas where the conflicts are happening”, the official said adding that there are limited resources to prevent conflict.
The official informed that man-elephant conflict in the state mainly occurs at Nongkhyllem wildlife sanctuary, some areas in West Khasi Hills, South West Khasi Hills and entire area of Garo Hills.
The official said the department is tracking movement of elephants and forewarn people and distribute fire crackers to scare the elephants away. Elephant tranches are being made in vulnerable areas too.
On the other hand, people are also being educated on certain factors that add to the conflict. The official said elephants are attracted to country-made liquor as they have a strong sense of smell.
“People need to be careful and avoid stocking country made liquor. The liquor should be made far away from home”, the official said.
Again, people need to make sure granaries are far from their settlement as the pachyderms search for food in villages.
However, there are preventive measures in some forms and one of them is beekeeping as they distract the elephants. “Elephants avoid honey-bees, if there are bee-hives, it will drive the elephants away”, the official said.
Although the government has not started this method on a large scale, the forest department will create a series of bee-hive in linear fashion in a village or two, the official said. “We plan to start soon, “ he said.
The official also spoke about chilly plantation to drive away elephants.
To provide relief to those who are affected by man-elephant conflict, the Forest department pays an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh and Rs 2 lakh in case of grievous injury.
In case of crop damage, joint survey conducted by horticulture/agriculture officials along with forest officials is being done.
As for the ex-gratia payment, in Garo Hills, payment of Rs 2 crore is still pending due to non-availability of budget allocation.
The official said that the department is trying to get funds from the state and the Centre.