BHUBANESWAR: Concerned over the growing incidents of human-elephant conflict, a start-up is assisting the forest department to deal with the situation in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district. It has provided a ‘smart early alert system’ that requires modest technology and low investment.
Two Bhubaneswar-based techies in their early 30s—Bikram Pradhan and Tarunkanta Swain—are helping the Dhenkanal forest division install the equipment that can remotely alert villagers during elephant movement. It was during their visits to the villages in Dhenkanal that techies realised the scale of the human-elephant conflict and developed the product. Their start-up, Future Gen Electrical Private Ltd, helps people build off-grid solar power plants in villages.
The GSM-based smart alert device is driven by solar power and can be installed on a pole and controlled remotely. The SIM card in the device receives input (SMS or call) from five different selected mobile numbers to issue alerts to people living around it.
After receiving the input, the device switches on a siren that can be heard up to 2 km away. It also has a red flashlight that has visibility up to 3 km. Forest field staff can send their alert to these devices whenever they learn about elephant movement, Bikram said. The Dhenkanal district is the epicentre of man-elephant conflict in Odisha with a crisscross of industries and linear infrastructure posing serious challenges to elephant movement leading to depredation.