Tag : Gajamitra

    'Elephant corridors', 'Gajamitra' scheme key to cutting WB human-tusker faceoffs

    Pankaj Sharma
    September24/ 2022

    Kolkata: In several pockets in West Bengal, be it Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri and Bagdogra in the North or Bankura, Purulia and Jhargram in the South, news about human-elephant conflict have been quite common for the last few years. Such conflicts have been on the rise, following the increasing expansion of human establishments to the favourite corridors of the elephants. In the case of North Bengal, the tea gardens and the growing human habitations around them are the main hurdles. In South Bengal, the presence of railway tracks and agricultural fields, among others create obstructions to the hindrance-free passage of the tuskers. Despite several meetings between senior officials of the state forest department, union ministry of environment and forests and the Railways, among others, no long term solution to this problem has emerged. The state forest department is banking on two proposed projects that it is hoping will minimize the incidents of human-elephant conflict. According to forest minister Jyotipriyo Mullick, the first project is setting up dedicated elephant corridors in North Bengal covering mainly the forest belts of Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri and Bagdogra and Bankura, Purulia and Jhargram in South Bengal. "The project to be implemented at a cost of Rs 620 crore would be funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the project work is expected to start by November this year," Mullick said. The second project, according to the minister, is the appointment of 600 local youths from these pockets as Gajamitras (friends of elephants). "The process of recruitment will start shortly and after recruitment they will be specially trained by an expert agency and then inducted into the state forest department. They wi ...

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