Bhubaneswar: Death of 237 people between Aril 2015 and February 2018 in elephant attacks have emerged as a concern for forest officials.
Depletion of habitat because of construction activities seems to have forced the elephants to intrude into human habitation areas.
According to a written reply by state forest and environment minister Bijayshree Routray in the Assembly, while 89 people were killed in 2015-16, 66 people were killed in 2016-17. Similarly, 82 people were killed between April 2017 and February this year. Besides 147 people were also injured in elephant attacks during this period.
Forest officials said rapid urbanisation had led to habitat depletion of the elephants. "Lack of awareness by people often results in elephants attacking humans. Last year, several incidents took place in which people were crushed while trying to take selfies with jumbos. We have provided high-power torches, sirens and crackers to the forest officials to dissuade elephants from entering the human habitats," said a forest official.
The jumbos have also destroyed around 26,000 acres of farmland, along with 2,505 houses, during the period. The state government has raised the compensation to Rs 4 lakh from Rs 3 lakh for loss of human life. "We are also planning to use sensors and drone cameras to locate the elephants before venturing into the human habitat - which will be useful for us to save lives of people. Forest officials have also been asked to conduct frequent awareness programmes involving the local community," he said.
Experts feel that the human casualty has increased because of the lack of concrete action plan by the state government. "Elephants are entering the human habitat in search of food because of forest land encroachment, industrialisation and forest fires. The elephants are equally vulnerable, as people have been trying to kill them by various methods, including electrocution. The state government must improve and restore their habitat to deter them from venturing into human habitat," said Sanjib Kumar Das, a wildlife expert.
