From Our Correspndent
Guwahati: Assam government has decided to constitute and deploy well-equipped Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) in various parts of the State that are prone to frequent conflicts between man and animal.
The raging man-animal conflicts in assam basically involving elephants and leopards of late have resulted into casualties and losses on both sides.
There have been instances of brutal attacks by people on wild animals straying out of their natural habitat in the State.
An official source informed that the Rapid Response Teams will be deployed in Kamrup, Kamrup (Metropolitan), Goalpara, Nagaon, Sonitpur, Lakhimpur, Golaghat, Jorhat, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Darrang, Barpeta, Karbi Anglong and Udalguri districts as well as in Kaziranga National Park areas.
These teams will be deployed in the field within a month’s time. These teams will comprise forest department personnel and will be equipped with vehicles, cages and tranquilizing equipments.
A high-level committee comprising of the Principal Secretary (Environment & Forest) as the chairman has been constituted to ensure timely implementation of the measures announced by the government. Other members of the committee included Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF), Assam, PCCF (Wild Life) and ACCF (Wild Life).
Man-animal conflicts usually rages in Assam during winter seasons when herds of wild elephants come out their natural habitat on search of food and thereby destroy standing paddy crop on the field, sugarcane crop and some occasions even raid villages.
Similarly, leopards also come close to human habitat during the period while searching for their prey. Man-leopard conflicts frequently occur in the tea belt of eastern Assam and around the bustling Guwahati city.
