The ministry has proposed a two-pronged approach to solve the problem. First, it is planning to erect electric fences around the village areas, and second bring into operation a compensatory mechanism to give relief to some 200 households whose crop fields have been completely destroyed by the migrating herds.
However, the ministry is yet to finalize the mechanism to resolve the local problems now getting out of hand. “Although the new budget has allocated around Rs 50 million for relief assistance, it is yet to be approved by the Finance Ministry,” Dr Annapurna Nanda Das, the spokesperson, Department of Forest Research and Survey, said.
Das also denied having knowledge of any local-level consultation between Nepali authorities and their Indian counterparts in West Bengal over the matter.
The WWF-Nepal, on the other hand, has proposed “immediate consultation” between the eastern regional director and the district forest officer from West Bengal to address the rising problems faced by locals in Jhapa.
“We have urged the authorities of both sides to immediately hold joint-meetings at the field-level and regional-level as it is difficult to divert the elephants from their traditional route,” Anil Manandhar, the country head of WWF-Nepal said.
Contrary to the West Bengal state government´s decision to stop and divert the herds headed to Nepal, the WWF has argued that translocating or relocating the wild animals and trying to change the traditional migratory route is not the correct way.
“Instead of changing the structure, we propose building little corridors, trenches and fortifying the village to protect the people and secondly to put in place a compensatory mechanism to give relief to those who suffer heavy loss of property,” Santosh Nepal, WWF-Nepal´s special policies and programs coordinator, told myrepublica.com.
According to Nepal, such a compensation fund should have 70-80 per cent contribution from the Indian side and 30-20 per cent contribution from the Nepal government.
With the Brahmaputra plains in India´s Assam state being flooded, the herd began migrating, crossing the open border between India and Nepal and entering Jhapa. Since June 6, about 200 elephants descended on the village, destroying homes and crops. In the past, at least 24 people have been killed in Bahundangi alone by migrating herds.
On June 6, in Bahundangi, an elephant, said to be three to four years old, was killed after it came in contact with an electrified fence surrounding the house of a villager, Nepal informed. Another tusker was killed, either by a bullet or stones hurled by irate villagers, on June 11.
Stating that the killing of the elephants has been a rising concern for the conservationists, he, however added, “The news printed in Indian media lately that the elephants were shot by Nepali police personnel is false. The police only fired in the air to disperse the herd.”
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