A day of furore in Vidarbha forests

 

 

After a gap of few days, the herd of elephants has once again entered Gadchiroli and is roaming through paddy fields in Kurkheda taluka. The herd has 24 elephants including 1 male and 23 females. The herd had crossed over to neighbouring Gondia district where it stayed for a couple of weeks and has now returned to Gadchiroli.

Meanwhile, as the jumbos have been destroying standing paddy crop, farmers in the area are worried. Forest Department employees, alongwith the help of a special team called from West Bengal, have been keeping a close eye on the elephants’ movement, informed Dr Kishor Mankar, Conservator of Forest.

A joint team of Agriculture and Revenue departments is conducting inspection of the crop loss caused by the elephants and the affected farmers will be given compensation as per Government norms, clarified Dr Mankar. There have been no reports of elephants having attacked any human being so far, he added.

It may be mentioned here that the elephants like paddy crops and that is one of the reasons why their stay in the paddy growing areas is extending. It is expected that the herd would return to its original habitat after harvesting is completed. The elephants also like to munch on groundnut, charoli, bamboo etc and these are also available in Gadchiroli district in large quantity.

Last year too, a herd of around 15 elephants had entered Gadchiroli district and stayed here for around two months after which they returned to the deep forest.

This year’s herd is different from the one that had arrived last year, Dr Mankar said. “As elephants are included in Schedule 1, they cannot be captured or tranquilised. However, we are monitoring their movements and ensuring that they do not cause any harm to people and property,” informed Dr Mankar. He appealed farmers and villagers to stay away from elephants and not to venture into the forest. It may be recalled that a few days back these elephants had entered eastern part of the district from adjoining Chhattisgarh State and had damaged some houses and crops in Wadsa and Korchi talukas. After that they had migrated to Gondia district and now again have returned to Gadchiroli.