District-level meeting on Man-Elephant Conflict Held

A Correspondent

Tezpur: With a view to seek solutions and mitigate the ongoing man-elephant conflict in the district, a meeting was held in the conference hall of the Deputy Commissioner’s office on Saturday evening in the presence of senior officials of the district administration, forest department officials, heads of various government departments concerned and PRI representatives.

The meeting was chaired by Deputy Commissioner Manvendra Pratap Singh, who after listening to all the parties concerned, directed the Circle Officers of Chariduar, Dhekiajuli and Tezpur revenue circles to hold circle-level coordination meetings and seek the support of the local villagers to work in coordination with the forest and police department officials to solve the issue. Issues related to habitat loss of elephants due to deforestation, crop damage compensation, speed of trains running near the elephant corridor, unmanned crossings, among others were also discussed in the meeting.

The Deputy Commissioner directed APDCL authorities to monitor all electricity lines and fix all sagging lines, if any, at the earliest. Speaking at the meeting, he said there was the need to seek long-term solutions to this problem by studying the movement and habits of elephants that come out of reserve forest areas nearby every year with proper planning and implementation. He also appealed to the citizens to be more aware and conscious about their actions and work towards the peaceful existence of humans and wildlife in a suitable environment. Superintendent of Police Kumar Sanjit Krishna, Additional DC Parag Kakaty and other high-level officers were present in the meeting.

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