Bengal
Impasse over elephants’ route ends
- The Statesman
- 07 Nov 2014
Conflict between Bengal and Odisha govts resolved
Biswabrata Goswami
biswabrata@thestatesman.net
Midnapore, 6 November
An unwanted conflict over the blocking of elephant passage route between West Bengal and Odisha governments has apparently come to a happy ending today, as a herd of 80 elephants were allowed to enter into Odisha from the state’s Junglemahal districts.
The trouble erupted after the locals in Odisha dug trenches along its border with West Midnapore to thwart the jumbos from crossing over to their side. As it was the time for the jumbos to take Odisha route from Bengal during their way back to Jharkhand’s Dalma sanctuary, a sudden blockade along their transit route in Odisha led them to stay in Bengal’s district triggering conflict with the human habitats for the last few days.
To address the situation, forest officials from Bengal met their counterparts in Odisha and urged them to withdraw their blockades so that the migratory elephants can take their normal transit routes. Earlier, in August, the forest officials of Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh had met in Jamshedpur and pledged working together to ensure free passage for the elephants.
“After a series of talks with the divisional forest officers of Balasore and Baripada in Odisha, they finally lifted the blockades and all the elephants wandering in the Nayagram, Gopiballavpur areas in West Midnapore reached the Odisha today”, said Mr Anjan Guha, Divisional Forest Officer, Kharagpur.
Historically, elephants were present in West Bengal in the 19th century, mostly in the dense ‘Sal’ forests of Midnapore. But their population dwindled with the gradual loss of forest cover. With the JFM (joint forest management) scripting a success story during the mid-80s by bringing the green cover back, the Jharkhand elephants - already under severe threat from habitat loss - started moving towards Chhattisgarh, Bengal and Odisha using their age-old corridors.
As if the habitat loss in Jharkhand and Odisha - the elephants’ original abode - were not enough, a study by Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) reveals that more than 2,000 and 5,000 hectares of prime elephant habitat in Jharkhand and Odisha respectively are being extensively mined. WPSI undertook the study almost a decade ago and found that elephants from Jharkhand’s Dalma sanctuary had started moving towards locations not suited for them. The study found dissection of the jumbos’ traditional transit paths through West Singhbhum in Jharkhand and Keonjhar in Odisha. While the mining activities in Jharkhand and Odisha are on the rise, the ripples are being felt in West Bengal. Foresters claim that the jumbo herd from Dalma couldn’t return to Jharkhand in 2012 and had to stay here. The fallout: ever-increasing conflict in Bengal.
Mr Subrata Purohit, a Wild Life activist in Midnapore alleged, “The elephant doesn’t belong to a single state, it’s a heritage animal. Blocking their traditional migration route is a crime.”
Biswabrata Goswami
biswabrata@thestatesman.net
Midnapore, 6 November
An unwanted conflict over the blocking of elephant passage route between West Bengal and Odisha governments has apparently come to a happy ending today, as a herd of 80 elephants were allowed to enter into Odisha from the state’s Junglemahal districts.
The trouble erupted after the locals in Odisha dug trenches along its border with West Midnapore to thwart the jumbos from crossing over to their side. As it was the time for the jumbos to take Odisha route from Bengal during their way back to Jharkhand’s Dalma sanctuary, a sudden blockade along their transit route in Odisha led them to stay in Bengal’s district triggering conflict with the human habitats for the last few days.
To address the situation, forest officials from Bengal met their counterparts in Odisha and urged them to withdraw their blockades so that the migratory elephants can take their normal transit routes. Earlier, in August, the forest officials of Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh had met in Jamshedpur and pledged working together to ensure free passage for the elephants.
“After a series of talks with the divisional forest officers of Balasore and Baripada in Odisha, they finally lifted the blockades and all the elephants wandering in the Nayagram, Gopiballavpur areas in West Midnapore reached the Odisha today”, said Mr Anjan Guha, Divisional Forest Officer, Kharagpur.
Historically, elephants were present in West Bengal in the 19th century, mostly in the dense ‘Sal’ forests of Midnapore. But their population dwindled with the gradual loss of forest cover. With the JFM (joint forest management) scripting a success story during the mid-80s by bringing the green cover back, the Jharkhand elephants - already under severe threat from habitat loss - started moving towards Chhattisgarh, Bengal and Odisha using their age-old corridors.
As if the habitat loss in Jharkhand and Odisha - the elephants’ original abode - were not enough, a study by Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) reveals that more than 2,000 and 5,000 hectares of prime elephant habitat in Jharkhand and Odisha respectively are being extensively mined. WPSI undertook the study almost a decade ago and found that elephants from Jharkhand’s Dalma sanctuary had started moving towards locations not suited for them. The study found dissection of the jumbos’ traditional transit paths through West Singhbhum in Jharkhand and Keonjhar in Odisha. While the mining activities in Jharkhand and Odisha are on the rise, the ripples are being felt in West Bengal. Foresters claim that the jumbo herd from Dalma couldn’t return to Jharkhand in 2012 and had to stay here. The fallout: ever-increasing conflict in Bengal.
Mr Subrata Purohit, a Wild Life activist in Midnapore alleged, “The elephant doesn’t belong to a single state, it’s a heritage animal. Blocking their traditional migration route is a crime.”
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