Taking a fresh initiative to avert rising man – animal conflict in Jharkhand, State Forest Officials have started special programme on FM Radio giving all information about movement of tuskers in any particular area, besides making them aware of dos and don’ts in case they are located in their areas. Forest Officials informed that 11 Quick Response Teams (QRT) were also being formed to respond in minimum possible time against man – animal conflict so that minimum losses are incurred to life, property and life as well.
“Looking at the popularity FM Radio has gained during the last few years and its accessibility even to some of the remotest areas in the State, we are starting a special 3 minute programme on FM - Dhoom from today onwards through which people will be given all information about movement of elephants and the possibility of its movement in any particular direction,” said Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wild Life) LR Singh. The programme will be aired twice daily at 8:30 am and 4:30 pm during which they will also be told what to do and what should not be done in case elephants are located in any particular area, he added.
Till now people were being made aware about the problem through advertisements on print and electronic media along with time to time announcements through public address system when the tuskers were spotted anywhere.
Meanwhile, QRTs are also being formed which will take care of wild life issues, mostly man – elephant conflict in minimum response time and make arrangements for the safety of animals and the people as well.
“It has been noticed that whenever a heard of elephant is located in any area, people surround it from all sides without giving it a safe passage to move forward due to which most of the casualties take place. Besides mob control, the QRT will also make arrangements to provide safe passage by dragging the heard towards a safer location,” said Singh. Primary duty of the QRT, however, will be to make people alert about it and rescue a person or animal if they get hurt during the chaos, he added.
Singh also added that the 5 member QRT will have 1 employee of the Forest Department, while four others will chosen from the locals and given proper training to them, he added.
“11 QRTs will be stationed at different strategic locations to cover the entire State - 1 each in Hazaribagh, Palamu Tiger Reserve, Medininagar, Ranchi Territory, Ranchi Wild Life Range, Chaibasa, Jamshedpur, Dumka, Bokaro, Ramgarh and Elephant Project Dalma,” said the PCCF (Wild Life). Local members of QRT will be paid as per the provisions on daily basis, he added.
According to Singh each of the QRT will be provided a vehicle equipped with all facilities into it including carting gun, medicines, first aid box, winch, night vision glasses, ropes, flaring and public address devices etc.
“For providing inputs and information to the QRT, we already have a dedicated WhatsApp group on which each and every information related to elephants are shared, besides Elephant Tracking System,” Singh said.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Sanjay Kumar also asserted that the QRTs will help in taking immediate action against man animal conflict in an effective and efficient way.
“Besides alerting people, the QRTs will also study the pattern of elephants which will help in future planning of the Forest Department,” said Kumar.
Interestingly, the rising man-elephant conflict has claimed over 59 lives every year during last one decade. The highest casualty was recorded in 2011 when 69 people were killed by the tuskers.