Khorshed Alam, Sherpur

In the Garo hills of the Sherpur border, the rampages of wild elephants have increased dramatically as the paddy of the farmers ripens in the hill villages.

Human and elephant conflict has started to protect the crops of the field. At present, almost every night, herds of wild elephants are performing Tandab Leela in the hilly villages across the 40 km area of the Sherpur border.

Thousands of people in the hilly villages of the border are now sleepless due to rampant elephant rampage. Every night, hundreds of farmers stay awake to protect their crops. They are trying to drive away the elephants by burning firecrackers, drumming, and burning torches. But the more attempts are made to drive away the elephants, the more groups of wild elephants are coming into the area.

Human-elephant conflicts are increasing. In addition, the forest department officials and employees do not sleep. Mikeing is being done by the forest department to increase public awareness to resolve the human-elephant conflict. Various initiatives are being taken to resolve the human-elephant conflict. Rangtia Forest Range Officer Abdul Karim said, the forest officers under the range of Rangtia, Madhutila and Balijuri are working tirelessly under the guidance of Mymensingh Divisional Forest Officer ANM Abdul Wadud.

Balijuri range officer Suman Mia said that because there is no food reserve for wild elephants in the mountains.

The conflict between elephants and humans is not stopping in the Garo hills of Sherpur border. He called for the establishment of a wild elephant sanctuary in the Garo Hills on an urgent basis

The rampage of wild elephants in 50 villages spread over an area of 40 km bordering Nalitabari, Jhenaigati and Srivardi upazilas is now at an extreme level. Last week, a wild elephant died in an electric trap in a paddy field in Batkuchi Tilapara area of Nalitabari upazila. Since then the elephant group has become very aggressive in that area. As a result, every night a group of elephants come down to the locality and cause damage by eating and trampling the paddy fields. Many farmers are forced to harvest the half-ripe paddy of the fields due to fear of attacks by elephant herds.

On the other hand, 30 wild elephants have died in the last era with the death of one wild elephant in the latest electric trap. At the same time, 35 people died in elephant attacks. The information came out in a meeting of the Sherpur District Elephant Conservation Coordination Committee in the conference room of the District Commissioner on Thursday (November 7).

In the meeting, it was urged to strengthen the awareness among the people of the area and to strengthen the ERT (Elephant Response Team) team to resolve elephant-human conflict.

The meeting also discussed ways to increase the capacity of ERT teams and bring them into the process to further simplify government compensation policies and reduce delays in obtaining compensation.

The meeting emphasized on the conservation of elephant corridors and taking forward the process of creating elephant sanctuaries in Garo Hills, creating food sources for elephants in elephant infested areas and taking forward solar fencing and bio-fencing activities.

Deputy Commissioner Tarafdar Mahmudur Rahman presided over the meeting organized by the district administration and Sherpur Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation Department.

Mymensingh Divisional Forest Officer ANM Abdul Wadud gave a welcome speech.

Among the other members of the committee and invited persons are Deputy Director of District Agriculture Extension Department Mohammad Sakhawat Hossain, Srivardi Upazila Executive Officer Sheikh Jaber Ahmed, Madhutila Range Range Officer Md. Rafiqul Islam, agriculturist Humayun Kabir, agriculturist Md. Amgir Kabir and journalist Hakeem Babul.

Deputy Commissioner Tarafdar Mahmudur Rahman said, "Just as people have to live, we have to ensure the protection of wild elephants in the same way." For this reason, elephant-human conflict should be reduced. Elephant-human coexistence must be ensured.

For this, ERT teams need to be more aware and strengthened. He said that the land in the forest area and many surrounding areas belongs to Khas Khatian or the forest department. Because of that, various problems are being created to get compensation for the people living there.

Those whose crops and houses are damaged due to elephants should think about how to ensure that they get compensation and what can be done about it. As the process of getting compensation is quite time consuming and complex, whether anything can be done locally, the matter will be brought to the attention of the higher authorities.

Awareness should be raised among locals on elephant protection. Various programs can be adopted for this.

Divisional Forest Officer ANM Abdul Wadud said that about 120 elephants are now roaming in the Sherpur border forest. Although these are migratory elephants, now about 40-50 wild elephants have been staying in the Sherpur border for a long time.

A policy decision has to be taken in this regard.
According to the sources of the forest department, till now 96 lakh 92 thousand 200 taka has been distributed among the victims of wild elephant attack as compensation for dead, injured and crops and houses. Three lakhs will be paid to the families of three more killed in the elephant attack very soon.

A proposal is pending with the government to increase the amount of compensation for victims of elephant attacks from Tk 3 lakh to Tk 5 lakh per family.

Besides, the government is considering the proposal to declare a sanctuary for the protection of wild elephants on Sherpur border. However, apart from 22,000 hectares of forest land, there are about 1,500 hectares of Khas Khatian and about 2,000 hectares of privately owned land on elephant movement routes in forest areas. The cost of acquiring those lands is high.