Jaldapara Forest dept to check elephant deaths

Siliguri: The Jaldapara Forest department will take steps to prevent death of elephants in the locality.

The Forest department called for a meeting in Madarihut district of Alipurduar near Jaldapara Forest. Chiranjeet Pal, the forest beat officer of Jaldapara National Park, Uttam Sharma and other members of the Panchayat Sabha, including the locals were present in the meeting.

"The forest area comprises many elephants and they are a valuable asset to us. Thus, we have to be responsible in order to save them from the frequently occurring fatal accidents," said

Different awareness projects on the prevention of fatal accidents of the pachyderms had been discussed in the meeting.

Any elephant, if noticed, to cross the rail line especially during the night should be immediately reported to the Forest department.

In case of the late arrival of the personnel, locals are requested to signal the loco pilot with the help of a torch so that they decelerate the train speed.

"There have been a number of meetings between the Electricity and Forest departments over the issue of elephant deaths due to electrocution and we are trying our best to come up with a solution," a source in the Forest department said.

The area has witnessed many accidents of the pachyderms.

The man-animal conflict is on the rise in North Bengal due to the unchecked expansion of human activities in the natural habitats. This has increased elephant deaths. "We hope that different awareness projects on saving the forest lives will decline the death rate of the animals. Both the government and the department are planning more projects to save the forest ecosystem," the source added.