More tusker depredation feared this year

TEZPUR, March 27 ? Fear psychosis is prevailing among the villagers living near Chariduar, Naduar and Balipara reserve forest respectively in northern Assam following the apprehension that the menace by the wild tuskers this year would be on a larger scale. Alleging that the Sonitpur district administration so far has not taken any concrete steps to prohibit the entry of wild tuskers in human habitation leading NGO?s of the district fear that the man-animal conflict this year would prove disastrous in the district. The 50-km-long solar system barrier has been destroyed. This ambitious scheme starting from Dhekiajuli as zero point to the Jiabhorali river under Chariduar reserve forest and meant to protect the lives and property of human habitations from the menace of the wild tuskers was built at the cost of Rs 13 lakh through a centrally sponsored scheme where service experts from Hyderabad were requisitioned. However the project collapsed within a year for some officially unspecified reasons. Mentionably last year the World Wide Fund (WWF) for India had expressed serious concern after 32 pachyderms died at Nameri National Park, the third national park of Assam and other areas in the Sonitpur district of northern Assam after their fooder were sprayed with pesticides by the agitated villagers. A conference was also held with the officials of WWF and villagers to sort out the modalities in order to protect the animals as well as the civilians from being trampled by the tuskers. But no fruitful result came out. Although the Forest department has taken massive steps to check deforestation, felling of trees and also killing of wild animals which migrate to human habitation in Sonitpur district but Sri Ranjan Kumar Das, divisional forest officer, western Assam Division feels that rapid shrinkage of habitation as well as its fragmentation have isolated the population of various species of animals in different habitations in Sonitpur district and adds that a proposal has been sent to the Government of India to convert 4000 sq.km. forest area of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh as a Kameng-Sonitpur elephant reserve. Denudation of the forests by the timber smugglers and paddy cultivation have been cited as the main reasons behind the elephants coming down in herds and prowling over the paddy fields of the villagers in search of food.