BHUBANESWAR: A staggering 784 elephants perished in the state in the last decade, even as man-elephant conflict claimed 925 lives and left another 212 permanently disabled during the same period. Replying to separate questions in the Assembly on Tuesday, Forest and Environment Minister Pradip Kumar Amat attributed illness, accidents, poaching and electrocution as some of the reasons for elephant deaths in the state.
The statistics furnished by the minister also revealed that the trend of jumbo deaths in the state is on the rise in the recent two years. Amat informed the Assembly in writing that the state government in the last one decade has investigated at least 39 elephant deaths and filed charge sheet against 50 persons. He, however, admitted that not a single accused has been convicted in these cases.
As per the statistics furnished by the minister, a total of 784 elephants died between 2012-13 and 2021-22 in which the highest 93 jumbo deaths were reported in 2018-19.Besides, the state recorded nine more elephant deaths in the last fiscal compared to a year before. Moreover, 86 elephants died in 2021-22 against 77 in 2020-21, the data revealed.
The minister’s reply also revealed that human-elephant conflict has worsened in the last decade and as a fallout, human casualty has also witnessed a rising trend during this period.As per statistics, Odisha has been witnessing human fatality in triple digits for the last three years. The state reported death of 117 persons in 2019-20, 139 in 2020-21 and 112 in 2021-22. The figure, however, was 80 in 2012-13, 67 in 2013-14, 65 in 2014-15, 89 in 2015-16 and 66 in 2016-17. Permanent disability among 51 persons in 2021-221, highest in the last decade, was also registered due to man-elephant conflict.
The minister said a number of measures including projects to develop meadows, restore and rejuvenate water bodies, prevent forest fire and set up anti-poaching camps have been taken up to control human-elephant conflict.He said focus is also on regular forest patrolling and use of technology to track the movement of elephants.