Telangana: A wild elephant’s movement near the Telangana-Maharashtra border has prompted the State Forest department to convene and devise fresh approaches and protocols in case the herd or further lone elephants decide to re-enter the State.
Recall that during the first week of April, an elephant crossed into the boundaries of the State. In two days, it killed two farmers in the Kagazhnagar Forest Division by trampling them underfoot.
Authorities in Maharashtra, a state that borders Telangana, have also monitored the movements of a lone elephant in the Surendra Nagar forest limits, specifically in the Lakhmendra Hills. The majority of Telangana Forest authorities, particularly field officers, are ignorant of the tactics that should be used should the elephants decide to re-enter the State’s woods.
As a result, on Monday at the Forest Academy in Dhulapally, senior officials met with retired forest officials from neighboring States and specialists.
Tuesday’s field levels meetings in the divisions of Kagazhnagar, Mancherial, and Adilabad came after this. The goal was to share knowledge and discover tactics for defending the interests of the locals and rescuing them in the event of an elephant movement.
PCCF and Chief Wildlife Warden MC Pargaien said that the brainstorming session with experts and retired officials helped learn about the approaches to be taken in handling situations at the field level like tracking the movement of elephants at night and alerting local villagers to refrain from heading towards such areas.
At the second tier, field level officers in designated trouble spots held meetings within their boundaries to discuss necessary arrangements and other matters. A series of meetings with the local people would then take place to raise knowledge of the third-level dos and don’ts, among other things. These will be held soon.
Lastly, the fourth level would host sessions for interdepartmental collaboration. Officials from the Police, Revenue, Panchayat Raj, Rural Development, and Tribal Welfare departments would be called to these meetings to discuss various topics. For example, it becomes a law and order concern when the elephant enters a village after moving into a reserve forest area.
