A CORRESPONDENT
PALASBARI: The human-elephant conflict in the greater Rani area along the Assam-Meghalaya border under the West Guwahati Legislative Assembly Constituency has taken a serious turn, with frequent incursions by wild elephant herds leaving villagers traumatized and vulnerable. For farming communities living close to forest fringes, the growing menace has become a daily struggle, threatening lives, livelihoods, and food security.
On Tuesday night, a herd of wild elephants went on a rampage in the Nargaon and Thakuriapara areas of Rani, damaging residential houses and food stocks. At around 11 pm, the elephants first entered the premises of Nehru Talukdar at Nargaon, where they broke boundary fencing, windows and doors before consuming paddy stored inside the house. Panic gripped the neighbourhood as residents rushed to safety, fearing further attacks.
The herd then moved towards Mekurikuchi’s Thakuriapara, where it broke into the house of Manik Thakuria. The elephants damaged the walls of the kitchen and destroyed several kilograms of rice kept for household consumption. During the incident, 12-year-old student Bhanita Thakuria was trapped inside the kitchen while the elephants were feeding. Unable to escape, the minor cried out for help, creating a terrifying situation as she remained confined for a prolonged period in a near-suffocating environment. The elephants finally retreated after villagers raised loud shouts and created disturbances, allowing the girl to be rescued unharmed.
Such incidents are no longer isolated in the Rani belt, which lies along a traditional elephant corridor connecting forest areas of Assam and Meghalaya. Villagers allege that shrinking forest cover, depletion of natural food sources, and increasing human habitation near forest edges have forced elephants to stray into villages in search of food, particularly paddy and rice stored in houses.
Farmers in the area claim that repeated elephant raids have caused heavy losses to crops and property, pushing many families into economic distress. Fear of night-time attacks has also disrupted normal life, with residents remaining awake to guard their homes and fields.
Locals have expressed dissatisfaction over the response of the Forest Department, stating that preventive measures such as early warning systems, regular patrolling and awareness drives remain inadequate. They have urged the authorities to take urgent steps to mitigate the conflict through scientific management, strengthening of elephant corridors and effective compensation mechanisms to ensure safety for both humans and wildlife.
Unless immediate and long-term measures are implemented, residents fear that the escalating human–elephant conflict in the Rani region may soon result in loss of human life, further deepening the crisis in this forest-fringe landscape.
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