A CORRESPONDENT
NUMALIGARH: A sensitization programme on human-elephant conflict was organized on Tuesday by Golaghat Forest Division in collaboration with the management of Lettekujan Tea Estate.
The programme was held in the premises of Lettekujan Tea Factory. Representatives of tea garden workers, Village Defense Parties (VDP), journalists and villagers participated in the programme. The programme was inaugurated and presided over by Arup Ballav Goswami, former Honorary Wildlife Warden of Golaghat district, in presence of SK Thakuriya, DFO of Golaghat Forest Division, Ritupaban Bora, Assistant Conservator of Forest, and other officers.
Over the past few years, human-elephant conflict has become more severe with large volumes of crops getting destroyed, people getting killed, and ultimately elephants being killed in retaliation. The primary reason behind the increase in man-elephant conflict is the decline of forest cover in the areas of Nambor-Doigrung reserved forest. Human interference in the guise of development has destroyed and fragmented wildlife habitats and blocked migration routes. A rise in the encroachment of forest areas has caused habitat loss, forcing the jumbos to come down to the human populated areas in search of food and water, which has caused human deaths as well as the destruction of houses and crops.
Speaking in the programme, Arup Ballav Goswami stated that the issue of human-elephant conflict had become a matter of grave concern and a proper action plan had to be laid out to deal with it. People present in the sensitization programme suggested their views regarding the mitigation measures to minimize the human-elephant conflict. Deputy Managers of Lettekujan Tea Estate, Sashank Nagyan and Ujjal Saikia spoke about various issues that they are dealing with regarding the man-jumbo conflict in the locality.
In his speech, Assistant Conservator of Forest, Ritupaban Bora discussed various facts about elephant's feeding pattern and migrating behavior. Journalist and wildlife activist Rituraj Phukon stated that the human-elephant conflict was no longer a problem that could be handled by the State Forest Department alone, a multi-agency strategy could only help achieve the desired results in elephant conservation and to minimize the human-elephant conflict. Divisional Forest Officer SK Thakuriya stated that the forest department would put full effort and roll out action plans accordingly to deal with the human-elephant conflict in the affected regions of the district. He also asked for people's and stakeholders' support in this regard.
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