SHILLONG, Jan 20 (PTI) - Faced with increasing man-elephant conflicts, the Meghalaya government has decided to create another reserve for the animal.
"On an average, four to five people are killed in the state by elephants every year apart from their attacks on humans, their property and crop land. The man-elephant conflict in the state is quite intense," Principal Chief Conservator of Forests VK Nautiyal said.
Of the total 22,000 sqare-kilometre geographical area of the state, the forest cover is 15,657 square kilometres.
But unlike in other states which have well-demarcated forest areas and reserves, most of the forested areas are not under the direct control of the state government, Nautiyal said.
Only 1,027.20 square kilometres are under the control of the State Forest Department constituting only 4.58 per cent of the total geographical area of the state and 6.56 per cent of the total forest area of the state.
