Monday, September 12, 2011
Ganesh Puja at Bornadi WLS,Assam (India) to mitigate man-elephant conflict
Large scale human encroachment of the age old elephant corridors of Udalguri district of Assam has posed serious threat to ecology of the district as well as the state. Unabated felling of trees and destruction of the green cover have compelled wild elephants to roam in the near by villages, once belonged to them. A visit to India-Bhutan international border would reveal this horrific truth of forest destruction. All the PRF (Proposed Reserve Forests ) namely- Neewly, Kundarbi and Bhairabkunda etc have been encroached by various people and organisations. Even 450 bighas of forest land had been allotted to one Brahmo Sewashram on Neewly hills near Bhutan ,for commercial use. (Actually the organisation has illegally encroached more than 2500 bighas of forest land,as per report of the Circle Officer,Harisinga Revenue Circle. Memo No.HRC/S-27/2001/98 Dated 01-01-2006 )The Circle Officers working in Harisinga Revenue Circle,Udalguri Revenue Circle and Mazbat Revenue Circle earned millions of rupees during 1990-2006 period by allotting pattas to the encroachers. The Lat Mandals and Kanangus offered full cooperation in the matter in return of huge amount of money. This is the untold story behind so called man -elephant conflict in the district. Bornadi Wildlife Sanctuary and Khalingduar Reserve Forest have virtually been shrinking day by day. Banana and bamboo trees are vanishing fast in the forests because of roaming of thousands of domestic cattle inside the forest causing food crisis for the wild elephants. A full grown wild elephants needs 170-200 kg of food items and 80-200 litres of water daily. It can easily be assumed what amount of food and water a herd of wild elephants (generally 10 to 20 in a herd,but sometimes there are more than 100 ) would require daily.
Unfortunately with the destruction of forests,several herds of wild elephants have started coming down to villages in Udalguri district in search of food and water. The deaths of seven wild elephants and seven human beings in the district during last three months alone have proved the seriousness of the problem. Lack of fund,material and man power forest department could not meet the situation. There are only 65 numbers of forester and guards in the Dhansiri Forest Division.It is near impossible for them to cover areas from Bogamati to Pachnoi. In each Range Office,the working field duty staff number is not more than 20.
Debajit Deuri,SP,Udalguri and TR Pegu,SDPO,Bhergaon Subdivision in association with forest staff have taken up a massive programme in the district to create awareness and to minimize man-elephant conflict.As part of the programme,Ganesh Puja was arranged at No.4 pukhuri well inside Bornadi Wildlife Sanctuary on September 10 with day long programme. Police and forest department organised the puja in association with Green Valley Forest and Wildlife Protection Society,Nonaipar and Pigmy Hog Eco-Tourism Society of Bornadi WLS.After the puja ceremony, five truck loads of banana tree and one truckload of salt had been kept inside the forest for the wild elephants.TR Pegu,SDPO,Bhergaon told accompanying media persons that more banana and salts would be placed at different places inside the sanctuary next week.Another awareness meeting was organised at No.4 Rajagarh village near Bornadi WLS on September 7 where people of most effected villages interacted with police and media. The meeting was also attended by a few conservation activists .
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Monday, September 5, 2011
Man-elephant conflict takes serious turn in Udalguri district.High level discussion held
“Man-elephant conflict” has taken a serious turn in Udalguri district in last two months causing deaths of five wild elephants and six human beings.A high level discussion was held at Deputy Commissioner's Conference Hall at Udalguri on September 2 to find out solutions to mitigate the conflict.The meeting was organized by Bankim Sarma,DFO,Dhansiri Forest Division,in association with Udalguri district administration. Thaneswar Malakar,Deputy Commissioner ,Udalguri presided over the discussion which was attended by Mitha Ram Basumatari and Santias Kunjur, both BTC EM;Debojit Deuri,SP,Udalguri;MP Sarma,PD,DRDA,Udalguri;Pradip Kumar Daimari,MCLA, BTC; Dr.Anupam Sarma and Hitesh Baishya,of WWF India;Circle Officers of Mazbat, Harisinga and Udalguri; Managers of Hatigarh TE,Orangajuli TE,Borangajuli TE and Nonai TE; representatives of small tea growers, NGOs; ABSU and all the media persons.
Speaking on the occasion,DFO,Dhansiri Division said that no financial grants had ever been sanctioned during last two years for the maintenance of Bornadi Wild Life Sanctuary of Udalguri district.It needs mention that Situated in the foot hills of Himalayas, bordering Bhutan in the North of Udalguri district, Barnadi Wildlife Sanctuary ( 26 46' 49 N and 91 45' 31 E;at the elevation of 175 M above sea level )with an area of 28.22 sq km could well have attracted large number of inland and foreign tourists for its exotic virgin beauty, had there been good infrastructures like drinking water, communication system, forest guides etc. The only known abode of pig my hog (sus salvinous)and Hispid hare (caprolagus hispid),Barnadi wild life sanctuary had been neglected by both state and BTAD authorities since its up gradation to wild life sanctuary in 1980.Earlier it was known as the Barnadi Reserve Forest The sanctuary had been an ideal bhabar tract. The sanctuary has at least 14 species of mammals including Indian elephants, Tiger ,Leopard, Slow loris, Capped languor, Barking deer Gaur ,Himalayan black bear, wild bore, Pangolin, Particoloured flying squirrel, Assamese macaque, Peacocks, Eurasian otter, fishing cat and Porcupine etc. Non availability of maintenance funds has virtually stopped all kinds of developmental activities in side the Bornadi WLS,paving the ways of the smugglers deep inside the WLS. Patrolling is near impossible in the WLS due to lack of man power and blockage of interior forest roads. Debojit Deuri,SP,Udalguri urged the civil and forest officials immediately to take steps to control the deaths of elephants and man.He also suggested the use of tear gas cells to disperse unruly wild elephants causing menace in the villages. The matter of illegal allotment of 450 bighas of forest lands to Bahmo Sewashram at Newlee PRF was also raised during the discussion. From all the records it was found that on the basis of the report of then Circle Officer,Harisinga Revenue Circle ,the SDLAC,Bhergaon had allotted the said plot of forest lands to the religious body, which violated forest rules as directed by the Supreme Court of India. Mitha Ram Basumatari and Santias Kunjur,both BTC EM assured that they would place the matter before BTC so as to take steps to cancel the allotment.
The meeting further requested the tea gardens of the district not to encroach more forest lands; maintain their own staff to monitor movement of wild elephants; engage one Kunki elephant at their own expenditure; not to stock chemical fertilizers and pesticides etc out in the open; to stop erection of loose electric fencing to drive away wild elephants; not to dig deep trenches (serving as death traps for baby elephants).The district administration directed the Circle Officers of the district to find out actual possession of lands of the tea gardens both small and big. The issue of declaration of Dhansiri Forest Division as a wild life division was raised by senior journalist and Hony. Wildlife Warden Bhargab Kumar Das.Thaneswar Malakar, Deputy Commissioner Udalguri directed forest officials to form a high level committee to take steps to supervise the man elephant conflict in the district.
Rescued healthy baby wild elephant dies at Kaziranga NP
Very sad news:The 2 months old male baby wild elephant,which had been rescued in Udalguri district on August 26/2011 died at Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre,Kaziranga National Park on the night of September 2.The baby was quite well at the time of its transportation to Kaziranga NP on August 27 from Paneri forest office.The baby even played with me for some time.Now I come 2 know that almost 70% rescued baby wild elephants die at the Rehabilitation Centre,unnoticed.May be loving and caring hands were missing there!
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