By SANTOSH MOHANTY
Forest officials in Angul Division have been blamed for mishandling the Elephant-Man conflict issue that resulted in the death of four persons recently at Garh Santry, Chheliapada, Angarabandha and Barasinga.
The officials incurred the wrath of people in the above mentioned villages in Angul district who squarely blamed the forest staff of wildlife wing that lacked expertise to handle the situation. The forest staff relies heavily on bursting crackers to drive away the pachyderms to their habitat, the villagers said and alleged that they do not know how to drive away the marauding jumbos to forest nor managing the vast crowd that gather and irritate the wild animals during the operation.
Wildlife activist P K Behera alleged that subordinate staff who are not trained to drive away the elephants to the habitat are engaged 24X7, but this exercise has not become fruitful. Behera said the forest department should use the services of experts who can guide the staff engaged in the operation. He said driving away the elephants to the habitat is a technical issue and added that it is a branch of study which deals with the behaviourial trends of the wild animals.
The killer jumbo has been roaming different regions of Angul and Dhenkanal districts and nobody knows when it will trample people on the way at night and in the wee hours. As there is no advisory from the local forest or wildlife wings, people are living in a state of panic. They are not sure when the disaster will befall on them.
