Bhubaneswar, Sept. 10: The death of a man in an elephant attack near Rourkela on September 2 has put the focus back on the rising incidences of human-jumbo conflicts in the state.

The latest census, conducted in last May, revealed a marginal increase in the state's jumbo population, going up to 1,976 from 1,954 in 2015.

The statistics also reveals that the scale of casualties in the clash between elephants and humans continues to be high.

There have been a lot of elephant casualties and human deaths in the past five years because of man-elephant conflicts.

The number of elephant casualties in the state in the past five years is 393, while 300 people died in jumbo attacks during this period.

While poachers were responsible for a majority of elephant killings, a number of deaths were also caused by high-tension wires.

Last June, three elephants - two females and a calf - were electrocuted after coming in contact with high-tension electric wires in the Borapada forest on Dhenkanal outskirts.

The incident followed the death of a tusker in Mayurbhanj district under similar circumstances.

A source said that while hunters and wildlife smugglers had been responsible for the killing of 28 elephants in the past five years, nine died of poisoning and 60 animals were killed in road and train accidents.

Electrocution has claimed the lives of more than 50 elephants during this period.

In the past five years, the elephants have damaged 4,405 houses and crops in 69,071 acres. Environmentalists attributed the phenomenon of human-elephant conflicts to increasing deforestation and habitat erosion, which is driving jumbos into human habitations.

"Forest cover has been disappearing at an alarming rate, thanks to human interference, especially the industrial activities in the forests. This forces elephants, starved of food and water, to raid villages near the forests," said green activist Bijay Mishra.

A source in the forest department said efforts were on to check man-elephant conflicts by creating new jumbo corridors and restoring the eroded ones, so that jumbos get sufficient food and water in the forest.

This will prevent elephants from straying into human habitations. "We hope once the corridors are ready, this problem will be controlled to a great extent," said an official requesting anonymity.