Chhattisgarh elephants make way into Gadchiroli, injure farmer (Nagpur)
Chhattisgarh elephants make way into Gadchiroli, injure farmer (Nagpur)
Times of India
October 22, 2021
Even as Gadchiroli is battling its worst-ever human-animal conflict when it
comes to tigers, the entry of a herd of 18 elephants in the
tribal-dominated district has put the forest department on the toes after a
farmer was injured in an attack. Elephants are entering Gadchiroli after
nearly 300 years, according to wildlife experts.
While an expert said the elephants may have been forced out due to mining
in their habitat, a Chhattisgarh official said the animals are known to
walk long distances.
Kishore Mankar, conservator of forests (CF) in Gadchiroli, said, “With an
ideal habitat of mixed forest and sufficient water, the herd seems to have
entered in Gadchiroli division from Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh four days
ago and was in Murumgaon on Tuesday and is now in Dhanora range. The herd
is 40km into Maharashtra.”
“On Wednesday, the elephants injured one farmer — Ashok Madavi from Yerkad
village — as he went near the herd. We are not equipped and trained to deal
with elephants. The staff and villagers have been told not to go near the
jumbos to take pictures or videos. Farmers are a worried lot as their paddy
crop is soon to be harvested,” said Mankar.
In November 2019, two elephants — named Ram and Balram — had crossed over
to Kochinara in Korchi tehsil in Gadchiroli from Chhattisgarh’s Manpur area
for a brief period. The jumbos were pushed towards Darekasa in Gondia and
later they moved towards Pachmarhi.
Gadchiroli district honorary wildlife warden Uday Patel feels the elephants
may have entered Gadchiroli through two possible routes — 1.
Bawanpara-Dhamtari-Balod-Dalli Rajhara-Ambagarh-Malewada-Murumgaon-Dhanora;
2. Sitanadi-Udanti-DhamtariManpur-Murumgaon-Yerkad-Dhanora.
The Highlands of Central India, a book written by British author James
Forsyth in 1874, on forest, wild tribes, and natural history, makes no
mention of the presence of wild elephants in the Eastern Vidarbha landscape
after the 18th century. In the late 1800s, elephants were common in the
northern reaches of Maikal hills in north of Bilaspur.
Forsyth estimated 200-300 elephants in 3,000 sq km. This population was a
western extension of Sirguja, Chhota Nagpur and Cuttack. Prafulla
Bhamburkar of Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), an NGO working on elephant
conservation in other states, says, “This is forced migration as elephant
states like Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattigarh are losing vast tracts of
their habitats to iron ore
and coal mines.” “Elephants have begun migrating from Odisha and Jharkhand
to Chhattisgarh since the 1980s, and from Chhattisgarh now they have
started entering MP and Maharashtra. A herd of 40 elephants that travelled
from Chhattisgarh in 2018, strayed near Bandhavgarh and did not retur in.
The animals require anything up to 5,000 sqkm of pristine forest and they
daily wander 25km,” said Chhattisgarh forest officials.
However, Chhattisgarh PCCF (wildlife) PV Narasingha Rao said, “This is not
a forced migration. Elephants keep moving for long distances and after
passage of time they also return. We have around 300-320 elephants in the
wild. It is true that the giant mammals are facing tough times due to
conflict but we are taking steps to divert them to forests.”
According to the mineral resources department, Chhattisgarh nearly has
storage of 5.6 mt of coal, which represents 16% of all coal deposits in
India. Twelve coalfields located in Raigarh, Surguja, Koriya, and Korba
districts account for over 44,400 mt of coal.
“Traditionally, elephants roamed freely in Hasdeo Aranya sanctuary but
after mining began, the forests have been fragmented. A 400sqkm area was
proposed for elephant reserves that fell within Surajpur, Korba and
Sarguja, but a top private group operates a big coal mine in Hasdeo Aranya
area,” said NGOs there.
The state’s iron ore reserves total 4,000 mt, accounting for around 19% of
the country's total iron ore reserves. Kondagaav, Narayanpur, Jagdalpur,
and Dantewada in South Chhattisgarh are the primary locations for iron ore
extraction. These coal and iron ore belts are natural habitats for
elephants and 350 species of wild animals.
According to a WTI report titled ‘Right of Passage, Elephant Corridors of
India’, the fragmented nature of the Indian landscape, with people
everywhere, has increased encounters between elephants and humans. The
conflict claims 400-450 people and 100 elephants each year in the country.