Dibrugarh, Dec. 11: Elephant menace is sending people in the rural areas of Upper Assam districts of Tinsukia and Dibrugarh scurrying for shelter. Altogether 22 families are taking shelter in Kathallbam L.P. School in Larua Mouza under Moran Assembly constituency to protect themselves from the wild elephants.
According to the villagers, the elephants have destroyed standing crops worth lakhs in 50 villages. The tuskers have come from the nearby Medela reserve forest. They said nearly 100 wild elephants, which have been destroying crops this year, have razed about 40 huts.
?We start preparing from the evening to take on the elephants,? a villager said.
Sarbananda Sonowal, the legislator from Moran, today visited the affected areas and took stock of the situation. He demanded that the people who have been affected be given adequate compensation and rehabilitated.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service, an international non-governmental organisation, has sanctioned Rs 13 crore for reducing the man-elephant conflict in the state which has resulted in the death of 50 elephants by poisoning and other means.
The US has a legislation called the Asian Elephant Conservation Act, 1997.
Karl Stromayer of the NGO said through email that the funds had been sanctioned for different parts of the state?s wildlife divisions and non-governmental organisations so that they may take necessary steps in this direction.
Surajit Dutta, divisional forest officer of Dibrugarh division, for which the non-governmental organisation has sanctioned Rs 18 lakh, has been specifically asked to provide more kerosene oil and crackers to keep the elephants at bay.
A forest department official here said two kunkis (trained elephants) had been brought to push back the herds to the reserve forests.
Dibrugarh deputy commissioner Niraj Verma and superintendent of police Satyendra Narayan Singh have already visited the affected areas and assured the people of all possible help.