Guwahati, July 2: Human deaths caused by human-elephant conflict (HEC) have declined sharply in one of Assam’s worst conflict hotspots close to Assam -Meghalaya boundary, with officials attributing the improvement to sustained mitigation measures undertaken jointly by the Assam Forest Department and biodiversity conservation organisation Aaranyak.
According to official data, the number of people killed in human-elephant conflict under the Lakhipur Forest Range in Goalpara district, located along the Assam-Meghalaya border, has dropped to just two this year from 19 deaths recorded in 2022.
Forest officials said the decline coincides with the implementation of a series of preventive interventions aimed at reducing direct encounters between people and wild elephants.
Lakhipur Range Officer Moupran Gayon said solar-powered fences and solar street lights installed in vulnerable villages with Aaranyak’s support have helped minimise human-elephant interactions, particularly during night hours when elephant movement is frequent.
So far, the Forest Department through Aaranyak has installed about 47 km solar-powered fence securing at least 18 HEC prone villages in Lakhipur Circle benefitting about 1440 households.
The Range Officer said community-based initiatives have also played a vital role. Volunteers of the Elephant Conservation Networks (ECNs), promoted by Aaranyak, and Gaja Mitras engaged by the Assam Forest Department have significantly strengthened the early-warning system across conflict-prone villages.
The ECNs comprise village volunteers connected through WhatsApp groups who immediately alert neighbouring settlements whenever elephant movement is detected, enabling residents to take precautionary measures and avoid potentially dangerous encounters.
Seeking to sustain the encouraging trend, Lakhipur Revenue Circle Officer Sailen Dutta Das convened an inter-departmental meeting on June 29 in collaboration with Aaranyak to strengthen coordination among government agencies involved in HEC mitigation.
Appreciating the decline in human casualties, Das urged departments including APDCL, Agriculture, Veterinary, Education, Health and Family Welfare, Social Welfare, Soil Conservation, Police, Forest, DDMA, and Panchayat and Rural Development to undertake action-oriented measures within their respective mandates to further reduce conflict and promote human-elephant coexistence.
He announced that the civil administration would review the progress made by the departments during the next coordination meeting scheduled for October 2026. Representatives of the participating departments assured their support for the collaborative initiative.
During the meeting, noted conservation scientist Dr. Bibhuti Prasad Lahkar, Head of the Elephant Research and Conservation Division (ERCD) of Aaranyak, made a presentation outlining the role that different government departments can play in mitigating human-elephant conflict through coordinated planning, community participation and timely interventions.
Lakhipur Forest Range has long been one of Assam’s most vulnerable landscapes for human-elephant conflict because of its proximity to elephant habitats along the Assam-Meghalaya border. Forest officials believe that continued collaboration among government agencies, conservation organisations and local communities will be crucial to sustaining the recent decline in human casualties.
By Bijay Sankar Bora
