Assam: Gauhati HC orders to form special task force to curb human-elephant conflicts in Goalpara

The Gauhati High Court has ordered the state government to create a special task force to monitor the action taken by the forest department to curb human-elephant conflicts in lower Assam's Goalpara district.

As per the report, the divisional forest officer and the deputy commissioner will be the committee members, while the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) would serve as its head.

According to sources, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was registered based on a letter written by Pranab Jyoti Sarma, a wildlife lover from Bongaigaon, to the chief justice of the Gauhati High Court alleging the brutal killing of about 200 elephants for tusks and flesh in the Goalpara forest division, which covers an area of over 361 sq km.

Through that letter, the High Court prayed that the state government should order the state government to take measures to conserve the forests of the district as well as protect the wild elephant herds. The affidavit filed by the forest department in this case revealed some disturbing facts. The forest department's affidavit states that 25.67 percent of the forest cover in Goalpara is under encroachment.

Moreover, since 2002 i.e. in the last 20 years 223 people have died as a result of elephant-human conflict. Of these, the death toll in 10 years is 175. Similarly, 10 people have been injured in elephant attacks in the last five years. Elephants have demolished 424 houses and destroyed 558 bighas of crop fields. 33 elephants have also died in Goalpara forest division since 2010.

The High Court has also directed the district officials to survey the forest areas in Goalpara within three months.

Following the survey, the district officials were instructed to form a task force to monitor the eviction area.

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