Funds to implement steps for mitigating man & jumbo conflict should come from Centre: Min

Kolkata: State Forest minister Rajib Banerjee has urged the Centre to give 100 per cent assistance when it comes to taking measures for mitigating man elephant conflict which has been a major cause of concern in Bengal and also some other states in the country.

The minister flagged off the issue at a recent video conference held by Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change minister Prakash Javadekar with forest ministers from different states to discuss new schemes related to protection and preservation of forests and wildlife.

"In the existing project for conservation of elephant, the centre allocates 60 per cent while the state has to spend 40 per cent. However, it is an open secret that the jumbos cannot be confined to boundary of any specific state. An elephant from states like Jharkhand, Odisha, Chattisgarh sneak into south Bengal while elephants from Nepal, Bhutan and Assam enter north Bengal and vice-versa. So the funds to implement measures for mitigating the man- jumbo conflict should come fully from the Centre, " Banerjee said .

He reiterated that the state government is constantly taking measures to reduce such conflicts which bears testimony to the fact that human deaths in jumbo attack has dropped significantly in the last few years.

As per records of the state Forest department 112 persons were killed in 2015-16 that came down to 84 in 2016-17and declined further to 66 in 2017-18.

There was a slight rise in 2018-19 when 80 deaths were reported but it reduced further to 66 in 2019-20.

Banerjee said that paucity of funds has been a barrier in executing certain projects in connection with addressing the conflict issue. "We are coming up with a master plan for minimising elephant encroachment in human territory but to execute the same we need reasonable amount of funds which should come from the Centre," said Banerjee.

State former Chief Wildlife Warden P K Vyas pointed out that the central funding in projects related to elephant conservation is negligible in comparison to Project Tiger. "We have declared elephant as heritage animal. The Union government should be more generous in allocation for Project Elephant so that the animal's conservation can be done in a similar manner as in Project Tiger," Vyas added.