Elephant menace in Panidihing area causing serious problems

SIVASAGAR, April 14 ? One Akon Gogoi (40) of Saraguwa village of Panidihing mouza under Demow Revenue Circle was trampled to death on April 11 by a stray tusker trailing a massive herd of about 40 wild elephants rummaging the fringe villages of Panidihing Reserve Forest for food and shelter. Kanak Pator, another villager had a miraculous escape when the tusker attacked. According to Demow Police, police personnel rushed to the spot immediately and are helping the forest guards now, driving away the elephants. Meanwhile, the irate villagers roughed up the forest guards stationed at Saraguwa to protect the Panidihing Bird Sanctuary. It may be mentioned here that elephant population in Sivasagar district, according to the last census, has risen to about 45. It is double the number found in the previous census while in the nearby Gibbon Sanctuary the number of elephants has come down to only 17 from 28. So this increase in elephant population in the district is due to migration from neighbouring districts. The massive group now mores about the vast region between Upper Mazuli in the west and Medela Reserve Forest, Dibrugarh in the east, along the Brahmaputra riverine areas and chars and regularly ravages crops and houses of the villagers of Dekhowmukh, Desangmukh, Demowmukh and Dihingmukh areas. Lezai, Madhupur, Silpota, Chessa etc area of Dibrugarh district also regularly affected by their depredation. When the Dibrugarh district administration drives the herd away it enters into Panidihing mouza of Sivasagar district.

Three months back, the same group caused extensive damages in Rongagara, Rupapur, Chigadubi, Borpathar, Outola Mazgaon, Palengi etc villages of Panidihing West. Residents of these villages Nirmal Kalita, Kesha Kalita, Dulal Hazarika, Akon Gogoi, Atul Gogoi, Hema Konwar, Rikheswar Konwar, Rupeswar Bharali, Binana Gogoi, Munu Munda, Bimal Phukan, Ram Mirdha, Tufan Mirdha, Senai Handique and sixteen others whose houses were completely destroyed appealed to Revenue Circle Officer, Demow for compensation. People of the area had to flee their houses and took shelter in nearby Lagawabani etc villages for over a month. Forest officials and the affected villagers finally chased back the herd and it went back to Milonpur and then to Desangmukh leaving behind a dead baby elephant at Autola Mazgaon on December 18 last. It again went up to the Upper Majuli region of Jorhat district to be only pushed back the route again. The rapid shrinkage of forest areas in Upper Assam has turned the elephants into ecological dislocates and they raid the cultivated areas as procuring food has become increasing difficult for them. A grown-up elephant needs an average 2 to 2.5 quintals of herbage everyday and an elephant needs to walk at least 20 kms a day to keep itself fit and healthy. But absence of a safe corridor and increasing threat from humans denuding forest areas, these elephants keep hiding in remaining forest patches and venture out only during night hours. Forest officials here do not have a clear idea where this group of elephants originally come from. DFO (Social Forestry) H K Talukdar told this correspondent that this group migrated from the North bank and Arunachal Pradesh while DFO (Wildlife) Sivasagar says the group may come from Dibru-Shaikhowa Reserve Forest areas. But some local residents in Panidihing forest villages talking to this correspondent during his numerous visits to the areas, opine that elephants were there centuries ago when the whole region was an unending stretch of thick evergreen forest from the Brahmaputra in the north to Arunachal and Nagaland in the south.

Till about four decades back, Panidihing or erstwhile Maharani Reserve Forest covered the entire area from Nitaipukhuri to Desungmukh (about 11,000 sq hectres in area). But due to continued felling of trees by encroachers, rehabilitation of flood affected people by governments only 3420 hectres have remained as reserved areas. That too, due to total back of interest of the incompetent and corrupt forest officials, has been grabbed by land-hungry people of the neighbouring villages. Similar is the fate of other reserve forests of the district. The felling is being continued by unscrupulous timber traders inspite of the Supreme Court ban throughout the district right under the nose of the forest and police departments. During the last five years four guards have been killed by elephants in the reserve. It is a safe sanctuary for Naga extremists too who killed two elephants in March this year. It is high time, the government started evicting illegal settlers, taking action against corrupt forest officials and initiating massive afforestation works.