Guwahati, April 5: Scores of village heads flagged myriad issues related to acute human-elephant conflict (HEC) in parts of Udalguri district in Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) during a sensitisation workshop on HEC mitigation, seeking coordination among various government departments, including the forest department and district administration.
During the workshop, held at Tangla under joint aegis of the BTR forest department, Harisinga revenue circle and biodiversity conservation organisation, Aaranyak, the village heads and representatives of various line departments were sensitised on the alarming nature of human-elephant conflict in the district and the region as a whole through a detailed presentation by Bibhuti Prasad Lahkar, senior conservation scientist at Aaranyak.
Lahkar highlighted various HEC mitigation measures besides the urgent need for coordination among various government departments with the Forest Department in facilitating human –elephant coexistence.
Speaking at the workshop, the divisional forest officer (DFO) of Dhansiri division of BTR, Dibakar Das stated that the root cause of human-elephant conflict, which has claimed hundreds of lives of wild elephants and human beings, is habitat destruction because of expanding human habitations.
The DFO said there was a need for co-existence given the importance of regeneration of forest and conservation of the entire ecosystem. He said that it is the humans which initially created the problem through various activities and therefore the issue needed to be addressed through various mitigation measures.
The forest officials also explained in detail the process of claiming compensation by the victims of such conflicts so that the compensation payment process could be expedited.
Circle officer of Harisinga, Manisha Nath, making the opening remarks, underscored the burgeoning human-elephant conflict in the district and the need for effective and coordinated mitigation efforts.
The Aaranyak team gathered valuable suggestions from village heads and representatives of line departments for undertaking suitable and need-based mitigation measures to facilitate co-existence of humans and elephants.