Man - Elephant Conflict Searching for the reasons behind

Man - elephant conflict isn’t something unheard of in assam. almost regularly we get to hear news of elephants straying into paddy fields and destroying crops or elephant dying on the railway tracks or being electrocuted.

- Ripunjoy Das

The forest officials however, are quite aloof to the situation and are trying to convince people that they are doing the best they can. The result - innocent animals are losing lives on a regular basis. As per a report by a leading news channel, a total of nine elephants were killed in train-related accidents in Assam 2015.

Recently, yet another elephant was found dead in a huge paddy field at Lezai Kolakhowa area in upper Assam’s Dibrugarh district. This is the fourth elephant to die in the area during the past three weeks. Although the forest personnel are to officially spell out the reason behind the deaths, sources in the department have confirmed that most of these deaths have occurred due to electrocution by villagers.

Villagers however have denied such allegations. They simply express ignorance on these deaths. On the other hand, villagers allege that the forest department personnel are doing nothing to protect the villagers and their standing crops. As the sun sets, the villagers prepare themselves for a fight against a marauding herd of hundreds of elephants which come out of the adjacent Medela and Dehing reserve forests in search of fodder and destroy acres of standing crops; most of the time without even paying attention towards all the resistance put up by the villagers.