TEZPUR, Sept 3 - Tezpur seems to have seen a terrible form of man-elephant conflict over the years. The problem is aggravated day by day due to obstruction of elephant corridors. The people of the cultural town have now sought help from the State Government for a permanent solution in this regard. Leading environmentalists are of the view that the problem has taken a serious turn due to loss of habitat, shortage of fodder and of course obstruction of the corridors.
The Ghoramari AIDC sector is generally known as an elephant-grazing area, but due to allotment of land for industrial purposes, elephants are now facing shortage of food for which they have to move around different parts of the town.
Saurav Barkataki, a leading environmentalist while talking to this correspondent appealed to the State Government not to allot any land in the Ghoramari AIDC sector for setting up of industries because that might affect the flora and fauna of the town. �The people of Tezpur have been witnessing a series of man-elephant conflicts over the years and the problem is aggravated. What we need is to protect our forest area for our animals," he opined.
Not only that, a group of villagers of the locality alleged that the State Government had allotted to the private companies without any verification. �Our forest areas and animals should be protected at any cost. We have also seen growing instances of smuggling and rhino poaching cases in the famous Kaziranga National park. So, the State Government should be careful while allotment of land,� the villagers said. What is more alarming is that this year altogether 50 people have lost their lives in various places of Tezpur due to elephant attacks. Echoing the sentiment, Aranya Suraksya Samittee, which has been working for protection of forest in Tezpur for the last couple of years, urged the Chief Minister to look into the matter considering the gravity of the situation.
