GUWAHATI, Jan 19 – Participants of a seminar on man and elephant conflict in North East India, organised by the Co-ordinating Organisation of the Non-Governmental Organisations involved in Conservation of Forest, Wildlife and Environment (CONGOFORM) at the Pensioners’ Bhawan auditorium here today, called for a strong political will on the part of the State Governments of the region to protect the pachyderm. “These animals constitute a part of our heritage, they should be protected”, the participants observed. The participants also expressed their unambiguous agreement with the 10-point Lekhapani Declaration, adopted by the participants of the four-day Dihing-Patkai Festival yesterday, on the conservation of the State’s environment and forest.
They identified the main factors responsible for the growing mutual intolerance between the pachyderm and the Homo sapien in the region to be large scale deforestation and large scale encroachment on the habitats of the Homo sapien, which resulted in the pachyderms’ either losing its habitats or getting these fragmented and also losing its corridors. The number of this species of the mammals is also showing a declining trend, the participants said. Presenting his paper in the seminar, which was conducted by CONGOFORM president PC Goswami, Sri AK Johori, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Assam, said that nearly half of the country’s elephants are found in the NE region, and, of this, nearly 50 per cent live in Assam alone. The success of the conservation efforts in the region, therefore, plays a decisive role in deciding the future of the elephant population in the country, he said. But, he said, despite concerted conservation efforts, there are definite worrying trends which require immediate attention and call for a more comprehensive management strategy.
The last census of wild elephants in the State was carried out in April 1997. A total of 5,312 were counted in the whole exercise. This figure was slightly less than the 1993 figure which stood at 5,524, he said. In order to draw a long-term management strategy and to ensure its successful implementation, indepth scientific studies should be carried out in the thrust areas of habitat and population of the pachyderms and social behaviours etc and management issues, he said, suggesting also a three-pronged strategy involving a study of different elephant habitats to ascertain their carrying capacity, limiting the elephant population and steps to improve the degraded habitats and to ensure involvement of the local people in elephant protection.
Presenting his paper in the seminar, Sri TTC Marak, Chief Conservator of Forests, Meghalaya, said that altogether 46 cases of elephant deaths were reported in the State between 1994 and 1999 and of this 40 per cent of the deaths occurred due to poaching. Sri SN Kalita, Chief Conservator of Forests, Arunachal Pradesh, while addressing the seminar, said that in the State, there were 1,611 elephants recorded in 1999-2000 against the figure of around 2,200 in 1993. Though the figures may not be accurate, there is a decrease in number of these animals, he said, attributing this to habitat destruction and poaching for the meat of these animals. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Assam, KN Dev Goswami said that despite the gradual shrinkage of the habitats of elephants due to growing human activities, a realisation is dawning on a section of people for the need to restore and protect the forest areas of the State.
Sri MC Malakar, Chief Conservator of Forests, Territorial, Assam, called for steps like deleting the names of the encroachers on forest land from voters’ lists and stopping all sorts of patronisation to them by way of non-issuing family identity cards, disallowing power connections to their localities and discontinuing with the practice of issuing touji pattas to such encroachers. Addressing the seminar, Sri DP Neog, former Chief Conservator of Forests, Assam and secretary general of the CONGOFORM, said that elephant capture should be allowed in a limited scale. Referring to the 1980 Shahi Commission report, he said that about 200 elephants should be allowed to be captured in the region. The State Governments of the region should immediately take steps to restore the elephant corridors joining the reserve forests, he said. Former Vice-Chancellor of Dibrugarh University Kamaleswar Bora, also addressed the seminar.