A marauding herd of elephants is devouring standing ahu crops, the only means of livelihood for the flood-hit farmers of Majuli, giving the residents of the river island no other option than to witness the devastation in silence. Sources said that the elephants have been wreaking havoc in the saporis (sandbanks) in Phulonibari, Meragar, Salmara, Kathalkhua, Kathamia and Bonoria areas since the last couple of days.
The Forest Department will provide solar lights for electrification of six remote villages in the district. A meeting was held today between the Jorhat Deputy Commissioner and Forest officials to discuss the Centre-sponsored project. Preliminary details regarding the implementation of the project were discussed in the meeting. The use of solar lights may be effective in tackling the elephant menace in these interior villages. Though it has not been finalized yet, there are plans to include Hatisal and Dainigaon in Neamati area and a Majuli village under the project.
Workers of the Lohporya Tea Estate here caught three Leopard cubs today. Later they were handed over to the Forest Department which released them at a safer spot. Assistant Conservator of Forests Gunin Saikia said in view of the increased man-leopard conflict in which many leopards had been killed in the district in the last few years, the Forest Department was considering relocating the three cubs to another place. But since the cubs were too small to be separated from their mother, they were released nearby.
The man-elephant conflict in the district seems to have no immediate solution in sight. Recurrent incidents of depredation caused by marauding herds of jumbos in forest and riverine areas have taken a toll on life and property.
Terrorized by leopards, workers of the Tinsukia Division of Meleng Tea Estate in the district has decided to temporarily stop work today. Sources said that the workers had gone to the division in the morning when Nagen Munda (40) who was in front was mauled by a big cat while the other panic-stricken labourers fled the scene. The leopard, which pounced from a nearby drain, however, did not go in for the kill and escaped in the melee. Sources said that for the past few days three leopards had been sighted in the area and working in the divisions of Meleng Tea Estate had become a risk.
Sources said that the river island of Majuli which lies on the other side faces a threat of being submerged by river waters of the Brahmaputra in case the embankment is breached. "Majuli, which has considerably decreased in size due to large scale erosion faces threat of extinction if flooding and erosion continue unabated,' the source added. "The Centre and State may be pumping crores into various anti-erosion projects in Majuli every year but all these are being literally washed away by the mighty Brahmaputra,' the source said.
To minimise loss of life and property during a hazard, either natural or man-made, some sort of management is necessary. Since the people in Developed Countries are conscious about hazards and have developed systematic and flawless management strategies, they are able to counteract eventual menace substantially.
