GUWAHATI:
Three persons, including a four-year-old child, were trampled to death by a herd of wild elephants at Kurong Village under Lakhpur Police station in Lower Assam’s Goalpara district on August 15.
“A herd of seven wild elephants coming from Meghalaya forest entered the human territory in search of food and created a chaotic situation in the village. The herd demolished several houses and finally attacked the people. Three persons including a four-year-old boy were killed in the incident,” a senior forest official of Goalpara Forest Division said.
The deceased have been identified as Sarathi Lama, her four-year-old son Suchi Biswakarma and Bhim Baharud Roy. The bodies have been sent to Goalpara Civil Hospital for post-mortem.
The incident had taken place in the areas of Lakhipur Forest Range of Goalpara forest division along the Assam-Meghalaya border, and apart from the three, the herd also damaged several houses in the village.
As per reports, the elephant herd was still seen in the area on August 16 evening leading to a chaotic situation.
“The herd has been chased away by the people from Meghalaya hills. So they entered into the plain area,” said BK Pegu, officer-in-charge of Lakhpur Police station.
The villages bordering Meghalaya are prone to elephant attacks, so taking that into consideration, Aaranyak, a leading biodiversity organisation, installed solar-powered fences with extensive support from local communities and the forest department. The project is funded by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and has been installed in several parts of Goalpara. However, that has not stopped the man-elephant conflict in the district.
“Due to massive destruction of forest in the district, habitat of the elephants has been disturbed by anthropo-genic interferences which have cost them food and shelter. The gradual result is that the elephants have to come down the hills to human habitation,” said an environmental activist from Guwahati.
“They used to come during two seasons – that is – during (May-June) when the paddy is ripe. The elephants have an ancient route from the foothills of Meghalaya (Bandershi, Barmatia, Moamari) passing through Borjhar and Uportola forest area till Kahibari, Kanyakuchi to Khamar. They use Kanyakuchi jhar (forest) as their halting place and return through the same route at a half km wide corridor.
“On their return journey, they use Borjhar forest as their halting place. Another problem is that their track has been bifurcated by human activities like the passing of NH-37 and NF Railways,” he added.