Siliguri, May 20: Elephants have killed more people in Bengal over the past 16 years than any other state in the country and environmentalists say the blame should be put on the steady human encroachment of forests.

According to data available with authorities of Project Elephant, a conservation body formed under the Union ministry of forests and environment, 982 people have died in elephant attacks in Bengal between 1991-92 and 2006-07. Bengal thus tops the list (see chart), followed by Jharkhand (779) and Assam (717).

The figures take into account attacks by both wild and trained elephants.

Project Elephant was launched in February 1992. No data is available for the years preceding the formation of the body.

Environmentalists said the figures confirmed their fears.

“We have been crying ourselves hoarse about how depletion of forest cover is squeezing elephant corridors across the state, particularly in north Bengal,” Animesh Bose, an environmentalist associated with the Siliguri-based Himalayan Nature and Adventure Foundation, said. “Man-elephant conflict has become a regular feature now, with both groups living in vulnerable conditions. We need to take up a prolonged awareness drive and the forest department must discourage growth of human colonies in forest areas.”

According to Bose, the absence of fodder in forests, replacement of foliage by paddy fields and hutment and people attacking elephants with pellets and arrows are the key factors that make the pachyderm attack villages, leading to loss of lives and property.

Over 4,000 people in 19 states have died in elephant attacks in the past 16 years.

Foresters, who have been working to increase the forest cover and keep the elephant corridors in north and south Bengal intact, acknowledged the problem.

“The man-animal conflict is an issue that we encounter on a regular basis,” state forest minister Ananta Roy said. “We are in the process of increasing forest cover by planting trees in areas surrounding forests. Trees that produce fodder for elephants are also regularly planted in forests.”

The 2007 census report published by Project Elephant shows that there are 300-350 pachyderms in north Bengal and 25 in south Bengal.

“The elephant population in Bengal is much lower than states like Tamil Nadu, Assam and Jharkhand and, yet, the number of deaths from elephant attacks is the highest here,” said a Calcutta-based environmentalist. “Unless the growth of human habitats in forests is stopped, such deaths would continue.”