Guwahati: Forest department and district administration officials, besides local legislators, seem to be completely ignorant about the rising menace of man-elephant conflicts along the India-Bhutan border in Assam’s Udalguri district.
A herd of wild elephants, which had strayed from the nearby forest and mountains along the bordering areas of Dimakusi and Borangjuli tea estates of the district in search of food, have been creating much havoc among the locals in the past few days. The wild jumbos destroyed several houses and a huge amount of crops of villagers leaving them in a state of shock with not much being done on the part of the authorities concerned to minimise the risks.
In a latest incident, at least four houses in the locality were destroyed and a huge amount of crops were damaged by the wild herd on Friday night.
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Three of the houses destroyed by the wild jumbos were of Jibon Kalita, Ramesh Chauhan and Rakesh kalita from Sonajuli village, while the fourth was of Lakheswar kalita from Dimakusi tea estate.
Incidentally, locals from the tea estates alleged that forest department and district administration officials seem to be ignorant about the situation and not willing to pay any heed to their problems, despite repeated complaints.
Expressing concern, a local from Dimakusi tea estate said that they had alerted the forest authorities about the presence of the wild elephants on several occasions earlier but the department has failed in shooing away the wild herd from the locality and bringing an end to their problems so far.
“Despite many appeals made to the district administration, our local legislators are also least interested in addressing to our problems,” he added.
Man-elephant conflicts are on a rise and several cases of innocent people being trampled to death have been reported from the India-Bhutan bordering areas of Dimakusi in Udalguri district of Assam have been coming to the fore. Most of them have been reported from Rajagarh, Nalapara Badlapara , Dharamjuli, Tanki Basti, Bogoritol, Kalikhola, Bamunjuli, Bhulatar, Bhtiachang area of Dimakusi locality in the district.
People are having sleepless nights with wild jumbos destroying houses and crops almost every single night. However, not much is being done on part of the authorities to give a sigh of relief to these affected people, claim residents.
