HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, Oct 14: A consultation among representatives of
various government departments held in Mushalpul Civil
Administration Office premises in Baksa district of Assam on
facilitating human elephant coexistence (HEC) evolved a
consensus on adopting a holistic approach towards mitigation
of the crisis precipitated in human settlements by roaming
herds of wild elephants.
In fact, all the representatives of various government
departments taking part in the workshop agreed to work in
coordination for mitigation of the Human-Elephant Conflict
(HEC) and enable coexistence.
The workshop organised by on October 11 by premier
biodiversity conservation organisation Aaranyak
(www.aaranyak.org) was participated by additional deputy
commissioner (ADC) of Baksa Arun Kumar Brahma along with
30 participants from Baksa Civil Administration and
departments of Forest, Veterinary, Agriculture, Soil
Conservation, Irrigation, Police, Education, Health, KVK as well
as representatives from the tea estates of the area.
Inaugurating the workshop ADC Arun Brahma underscored the
need for a holistic approach from different departments and all
stake-holders to mitigate the human elephant conflict not only
in Baksa but also all over Assam.
Mentioning that explosion of human population, depletion of
forest cover, loss of elephant habitats and scarcity of fodder as
root causes of the conflict, the ADC condemned elephant
deaths due to electrocution, poisoning, use of pesticides in
crop area etc.
He focused on ‘one earth, one family and one future’ concept
for enabling coexistence and advocated that all the stake-
holders, govt departments should to come forward to mitigate
human elephant conflict.
In the interaction session, Badrul Islam Mazumdar, DSP, Baksa
shared some of his experiences on human elephant conflict
situation and assured forest department of help from the
district police force any time during patrolling to watch over
elephants movement and tackling HEC situation.
Birendra Boro, Forest Range officer of Kumarikata deplored
noises created by some resorts established in elephant habitat
areas which disturb the wild elephants. He said large number of
illegal electric connections have become a major threat for
elephants.
Satyajit Neog, circle office, Jalah, Baksa suggested putting up
sufficient number of signages in different areas to alert people
about the presence of wild elephants in that area.
M K Das, joint directorate of Health, Baksa, assured to provide
some consultation and training on injury and mental trauma
caused by the HEC situation.
Munindra Kumar Sarma of agriculture department suggested
promotion alternative crop to generate alternative livelihood
for the farmers affected by HEC.
During the interaction session which was coordinated by
Jayanta Pathak, Deepanjali Brahma of Soil Conservation
Department suggested to circulate the list of elephant habitats,
corridors etc. to the concerned departments to restrict the
construction of linear infrastructures so as to facilitate
elephants’ movement.
The Aaranyak team participating in the workshop was led by Dr
Bibhuti Lahkar, senior scientist and comprised of Jayanta
Kumar Pathak, Anjan Baruah, Rabiya Daimary, Anushka Saikia,
Jibon Chetry, Mondeep Basumatary, Reshma Narzary, Jauga
Basumatary, Pradeep Barman and Bijoy Kalita.
Dr Bibhuti Lahkar made a presentation on the HEC situation,
mitigation measures to facilitate coexistence along with the
roles of different government department and stake holders in
mitigating the problem. He also detailed the participants on
mitigation measures undertaken by Aaranyak in a multi-
stakeholder approach with community participation.
Anushka Saikia of Aaranyak described about the objectives and
moderated the workshop. Jayanta Pathak talked about
Aaranyak and its activities on various field.
Dr Debojit Deka of KVK, Baksa suggested for lemon plantation
which will deter elephant while lemon fruits will boost farmers
livelihood. He offered to provide different training from the
KVK to the farmers through NGOs.
