CONRAD DIAS
Ranchi, Aug 12: Jharkhand ranked third in human fatalities rate due to elephant attacks in 2022 after Odisha and Assam. The state witnessed 74 human deaths in 2020-21 whereas 291 in the last three years. Despite this, the ‘Project Elephant’ started by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has not received funding from the government for the last two years.
The Divisional Forest Officer of Ranchi Srikant Verma informed Lagatar24.com that the budget allotted to Project Elephant in Jharkhand is mere Rs 1 crore whereas, in comparison, Project Tiger has funding of Rs 30 crore.
“We are getting peanuts in the name of funding. How is it justified to fund Rs 30 crore for Project Tiger and a mere Rs 1 crore for Project Elephant especially when Elephant is the state animal? The number of tigers is so few in Jharkhand as compared to elephants yet we are not getting the funding where it is needed,” the DFO said.
The primary reason for the lack of funding is because the centre has reduced around 75 per cent of the total funding of Project Elephant from what was approved in the last (2021-22) fiscal. Like Jharkhand, the Forest Department of Odisha had submitted an estimation for Rs 15 of which around Rs 12 crore was approved. They were asked to submit estimates of Rs 3 crore as the total budget is just Rs 35 crore for the entire country.
As per the last recorded data, there are more than 500 elephants in Jharkhand. Apart from Lohardaga, Garhwa, Sahibganj, Pakur and Godda, all other districts are considered elephant-prone areas by the forest department.
As most of the natural habitats have been destroyed due to deforestation, the elephants often come in contact with humans and most of the time it turns out to be a violent affair. The railway tracks constructed near forest areas are usually higher than the ground level which makes it difficult for the elephants to cross the tracks. Such situations lead to trains running over elephants.
The Ranchi DFO added that the plan to set up elephant corridors has been implemented and it shall start from the next financial year.
“Currently, we are mapping the historical elephant routes all across the state and the plan is to set up the corridors as near to the conventional routes as possible. This will take a few months and hopefully, this project shall start from next year,” he said.
The Dalapani to Kankrajhore corridor is one of the most important corridors between Singhbhum Elephant Reserve and Mayurjharna Elephant Reserve. The entire herds of elephants use this corridor to enter Mayur jharna during the crop seasons.
Jharkhand has been a hotspot for elephants. But, in the last decade, the increase in unregulated and illegal mining and several infrastructural developments have impacted the free movement of elephants. There are around 108 identified elephant corridors, out of which 14 are in Jharkhand. However, none of them has been officially notified by the government.
World Elephant Day is an international annual event dedicated to the preservation and protection of elephants. Started in 2011 by Canadian filmmakers Patricia Sims and Michael Clark of Canazwest Pictures, and Sivaporn Dardarananda, Secretary-General of the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation in Thailand, it was officially founded, supported and launched by Patricia Sims and the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation on August 12, 2012.
