Chhattisgarh to put aside paddy for wild elephants to cease them getting into villages

AS PART of the state forest division’s pilot undertaking to cease wild elephants from getting into villages, the Chhattisgarh authorities has put aside paddy acquired in 2019-2020 for “elephant management” in 9 districts.
“For management of elephants, it has been directed to provide paddy of 2019-2020 to the forest department at the cost of procurement in Gariyaband, Balod, Sarguja, Raigarh, Surajpur, Korba, Dhamtari, Kanker and Mahasamund,” the Chhattisgarh State Cooperative Marketing Federation mentioned in a letter to the Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) dated July 22.
According to the letter, the paddy was sourced from Raipur, Mahasamund, Bilaspur and Surajpur districts at Rs 2,095.83 per quintal. The letter, nevertheless, didn’t specify the portions put aside for the 9 districts.
P V Narsingha Rao, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), mentioned the pilot undertaking can be applied in a few villages at first. “We will procure only 10 quintals for the pilot project in the beginning,” he mentioned.
Forest division sources mentioned the target was to distract elephants from getting into villages. “Most elephant-human conflicts happen when the tuskers enter the villages foraging for food. By providing them paddy outside the villages, we are pre-empting the conflict,” mentioned a forest division official.

Environmentalists, nevertheless, have raised questions in regards to the plan of motion. “Wild animals can’t be force-fed. In the wild, elephants eat barks and roots of certain trees. They also like to eat young shoots and other parts of trees. When they come to villages, it is because of shortages in forests. Even then, they consume mahua stored in houses. Only in desperation do the elephants eat paddy, as paddy husks hurt their sensitive trunks,” mentioned elephant knowledgeable and activist Mansoor Khan.
Leader of Opposition Dharamlal Kaushik additionally questioned the choice. “When fresh paddy was auctioned at Rs 1,400 recently, why is rotten and old paddy being bought at Rs 2,095? We suspect that the government is going to use the CAMPA (Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority) funds to ration the losses made by their mismanagement,” Kaushik mentioned.

Incidentally, the state authorities was unable to satisfy its paddy quota on the Food Corporation of India in 2019-2020. According to an FCI letter to the state authorities, “the total CMR (custom milled rice) to be delivered to FCI was 28.1 LMT (lakh metric tonnes) for KMS (kharif marketing season) 2019-2020. However, State Govt. of CG (Chhattisgarh) could deliver only 26.38 LMT CMR.”
“The paddy stocks couldn’t be picked on time because they were rotting. Now that they have been stored for two rainy seasons, they would have either rotten further or sprouted, making the paddy unfit for consumption,” mentioned a rice miller from Raipur.
In the previous three years, 204 deaths have been reported within the state as a consequence of to man-elephant battle. The elephant rely within the state is estimated at 290.