GUWAHATI, June 30 – In yet another instance of the growing man-elephant conflict in the State that has assumed alarming proportions, continuous depredations by wild elephants in the Army cantonment at 51 Sub Area at Narangi have landed the Army and the Forest authorities in a tight spot.
Elephants have made it a habit to visit and damage the cantonment’s ration godown, looking for food. Most of the time it is two or three elephants but occasionally they come in herds of 20-25 as well. “When they visit the godown, the elephants consume and also waste food worth as much as Rs 10,000 on a single day, and this has been continuing for the last 10-12 years,” Army authorities said. The depredations by the elephants which mostly come in search of sugar, pineapples and vegetables, continue throughout the year except in March and April. In the past ten years or so, the elephants have killed 17 persons also, including Army jawans, the Army claimed.
Significantly, parts of the 51 Sub Area fall between Amchang and South Amchang reserve forests (now notified as sanctuary along with Khanapara reserve forest) and therefore, come in the way of the elephants’ natural movement.
Exasperated by the ravages caused by the pachyderms, the Army now wants the Forest Department to find an immediate solution to the matter. The State Zoo DFO, Narayan Mahanta who visited the site of elephant depredation yesterday to take stock of the situation, told The Assam Tribune today that the Forest Department was examining the issue seriously and weighing the pros and cons of the options available.
Engaging kunkis (trained elephants) to chase away the depredating herds or erecting electric fences around the godown seem to be the possible options,” he said. Another aspect of the problem meriting serious thought, he said, was the behaviour of the wild elephants “because the elephants seem to have got habituated to getting food from the godown and we have to ensure that preventive measures do not make them react or retaliate in a violent manner and give vent to their anger on the nearby villages.” Mahanta said that the Army authorities were not too keen to take the help of kunkis to end their predicament because of the cost factor involved.