BAREILLY: Forest department officials are keeping a close watch on two herds of elephants from Nepal that have destroyed several acres of standing sugarcane and tender paddy crops cultivated in forest areas in Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR). An estimated 10-15 acres of crops have so far been destroyed.
According to forest department officials hundreds of acres of forest land have been given on lease to farmers by the revenue department. The matter pertaining to the department’s efforts to evict them is now pending in court. The cultivated land is part of the corridor used by elephants since time immemorial to move between Nepal and India. Every year, at the onset of the monsoon, herds migrate from Nepal’s forests to Dudhwa.
This year, both herds have a young calf each making it all the more important for the officials to closely monitor their movement to ensure safe passage and avert possible man-elephant conflict.
One of the herds is camping around the Singahi forest range and appears to be heading towards Katarniyaghat forests. The other one has been sighted in Mailani range of DTR near Sultanpur village. It appears to be migrating towards Pilibhit Tiger Reserve.
Anil Patel, divisional forest officer, DTR (buffer), told TOI, “These herds have newborn calves. We have checked their movement pattern and found that they are following the same path which their ancestors had taken. The herds destroyed the cropped fields which were once a part of the buffer forest area but currently encroached upon due to various reasons.”
The department’s foremost concern, said Patel, was to ensure that there is no repeat of the 2019 human-elephant confrontation when two wild tuskers killed five men after they strayed from their migratory path and reached Rampur via Bareilly and Pilibhit.
Another challenge, the DFO said, was to protect the wild elephants from electrocution. The power department had been told to repair all low hanging and faulty lines near forest areas and ensure transformers are installed at a height. Farmers have been warned that an FIR would be registered against them if they do not remove electric fences around their cultivated fields, added Patel.
