See link for photo.
People in and around Mariani, a small railway township in Upper Assam’s Jorhat district bordering Nagaland, today blocked the Jorhat-Mariani road for about an hour in protest against Dispur’s “inaction” in preventing the increasing man-elephant conflict in the area.
A marauding herd of elephants, straying out of Hoollongapar Gibbon wildlife sanctuary, has been wreaking havoc in Mariani over the past month, destroying over 70 houses and killing one person last week.
The Mariani range of Jorhat forest division, under which the wildlife sanctuary is located, is one of the worst man-elephant conflict zones in Assam.Elephant herds stray out of the sanctuary and destroy crops and vegetation in adjoining villages and tea gardens, especially in winter. This time, the herd has fanned out further, giving sleepless nights to residents.
Nagen Sabar, a tea worker who participated in the protest, said he, his family and neighbours had not slept for several nights, fearing elephant depredation. At times, they go out in groups with fire torches to chase away the herd.
“Our life has been disrupted as we have to stay awake the whole night. We have lost several days’ wages as we cannot join work in the morning after keeping awake the entire night,” he said. It was in Sabar’s locality, Dhekiajuli, that Pito Sabar was trampled to death last week, besides several houses being damaged.
Govind Bhumij, another protester, said the under-staffed forest guards had failed to chase back the elephants to the sanctuary for the past fortnight, resulting in the ongoing menace. He said children were afraid to go to school alone as the herd takes shelter in forested (abandoned tea plantation) areas during the day.
Finding no respite from the elephants, hundreds of people from all the affected areas blocked the Jorhat-Mariani road near Kathanibari division of Sycotta tea estate, about two to three kilometres from Mariani town, for about an hour, demanding that the government take steps to protect them from the jumbo menace.
Bikram Hazarika, an affected villager, said in the past 10 years people had stopped cultivating paddy in about 200 hectares around the sanctuary but the elephants were now moving further.
Sources in the forest department said the herd had caused depredation in adjoining Titabar constituency also this time, sending the people and the forest staff into a tizzy.
Mariani Congress MLA Rupjyoti Kurmi and the Mariani unit of the Assam Tea Tribes Students Association (ATTSA) have extended their support to the protesters.
Ruing government apathy, Kurmi, who has joined the people in their chase of elephants by night, said he has repeatedly taken up the matter with the erstwhile Congress and present BJP-led governments but “unfortunately no proper action plan has been prepared to address the issue” leading to increase in the man-elephant conflict.
He criticised the forest department for not deploying enough staff or ammunition for chasing away the elephants. He pledged to support the people in their fight for “survival”.
Divisional forest officer (Jorhat) Sapan Saikia said staff from their Titabar and Jorhat offices have been regularly assisting people in the Mariani area. He said as the forest guards need to fire over 10 rounds every night, ammunition had got exhausted last week but was immediately replenished from nearby districts. He said the forest personnel were also facing difficulties as the herd was getting divided into small groups.
ATTSA’s Mariani unit president Bandhan Gowala said they had staged a demonstrationin front of the forest range office last week and would intensify their agitation if the government did nothing to stem the jumbo menace.
The Hoollongapar Gibbon wildlife sanctuary, with an area of 20.48 square km, is an ideal habitat for two to three elephants but the number has gone up to over 50 from 20 in the past 11 years, sources said.
According to forest department records, over 770 people have died in Assam in the last 10 years of which around 20 have died in the Mariani range. Elephants have also died in the area, either through electrocution or on being hit by trains.