In view of the sudden spurt in entry of elephant herds in Bihar, the officials of Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change held an interstate meeting here on Tuesday to chalk out plans for relief from their menace.
Since Bihar was not part of the elephant corridor, the state environment, forest and climate change department is now hard pressed to handle the menace created by elephant herds coming from other states.
Vinod Ranjan, ADG of forests (wildlife), Union ministry of environment, forests and climate change, said, “Today’s meeting was a preparatory one for Bihar forest officials concerned on tackling elephants. Besides Bihar, officials from Odisha, West Bengal and Jharkhand attended it… For the first time, tusker activity was noticed in March 2015 and again from January 20 to February 7 this year in Gaya and Aurangabad districts.”
He added, “We have decided to constitute five quick response teams and set up one rescue and rehabilitation centre for elephants at Bettiah. The ministry will give Rs 5 lakh each to the family of those killed in elephant attack and Rs 25,000 per hectare to farmers whose crops have been destroyed.”
The quick response teams will be stationed in West Champaran, Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur, Gaya and at Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park, Patna. Each team will have experts to handle elephants, shooters to tranquilize them and veterinary doctors. The rescue and rehabilitation centre will be able to treat five elephants at a time. Construction work of the centre will be completed in three months in the next fiscal year. The equipments required for quick response teams will be provided by the Union government.
R K Srivastava, IG (forests), Government of India, said, “Elephants are coming to Bihar for food, not to stay. Due to decrease in forest areas in the adjoining states, elephants are coming out of their traditional habitats. In Bihar, they get their favourite sugarcane and corn. They are entering Bihar from Nepal, West Bengal and Jharkhand sides.”
Meanwhile, the state government is taking help from a team led by Hyderabadi hunter Nawab Shafath Ali Khan to chase away elephants.
Khan said, “We will request villagers not to create ruckus when elephant herds are entering a village. Instead, they should stay safe and let the elephant herd pass through the fields if forest officials are not around.”