Nagaon Forest Division to use radio caller to tackle man-elephant conflict

A Correspondent

NAGAON: Conflict between man and elephant in Nagaon district as well as other parts of the State has become a tough issue for the State Forest Department to tackle. Especially during the harvesting period of crops, it turns into a stiff job for the forest personnel in the district to mitigate the issue as a whole.

It is commonly assumed that due to rapid deforestation in the district, most of the wild animals, including elephants, are being forced to come out to crowded areas like Salna, Borbari, Bamuni, Kothiatoli, Kondali, Barhampur, Jalaah, Kalibor, Samaguri and Kampur in search of food. In doing so, they often become a threat for humans.

As per forest department records in the district, the herd of wild elephants destroyed thousands of hectares of crops and also demolished hundreds of houses in the district during the last couple of years. On the other hand, more than 10 persons and 15 wild jumbos were killed or electrocuted in man-elephant conflict in the district so far. The forest staff of the district, however, is helpless to minimize the fatal figures of these conflicts although it has been constantly trying its best to do so.

According to forest sources, the Nagaon Forest Division, in order to mitigate this issue, has taken various innovative measures. Nagaon forest division has already constructed around 22 km solar power fencing in the forest borderline areas to stop the entry of jumbo. But the herd of jumbos change their tracks every time. Hence, the issue has been left unaddressed.

Meanwhile, in the latest development, Nagaon Forest Division will soon start using a sophisticated device to tackle this problem. DFO Suvasish Dev termed this new device as radio caller. According to sources, the device will be operated throughout GPRS system and can be easily used to trace the movement of the elephants. In this new device, the forest personnel or forest officials will first tranquilize any one elephant from the herd of jumbos and then hang the device around its neck. Subsequently, the jumbo will be sent back to the herd. When the herd of jumbos will again move towards crowded areas, the forest personnel as well as the public of the locality will get a signal about their movement.

Sources said that the decision for the proposed device was recently finalized in a high-level meeting held at the office of the DFO, Nagaon. The higher authority of the State Forest Department has already approved it and also has given the green signal to execute it immediately.

Also Read: Poor plight of forest department in Udalguri as human-elephant conflict claims lives