Aggressive female elephant threatens to undermine ‘Gajarath’ campaign aimed at preventing human casualties in Jashpur
Ramesh Sharma
Pathalgaon
In Chhattisgarh’s Jashpur district, Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai has launched a special awareness campaign through the forest department called ‘Gajarath’, aimed at preventing human casualties caused by elephant attacks.
As part of the campaign, awareness sessions have been conducted in over 30 village schools across the Jashpur Forest Division, reaching around 4,000 students and villagers. Teachers and panchayat representatives have also been included in special alertness programs.
According to Jashpur Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Shashi Kumar, the Gajarath campaign has yielded positive results in educating people, even in remote villages, about how to stay safe from elephants. However, a hostile female elephant, separated from its herd and roaming the Pathalgaon and Sitapur areas with her calf, has caused panic in dozens of villages.
This agitated elephant had earlier launched a life-threatening attack on a forest department team at a government school in Pathalgaon. It later trampled a farmer to death in the Tamta area. Before this, the same female elephant had killed three more individuals in Lailunga and Bakaruma.
DFO Shashi Kumar stated that, given the elephant’s aggressive behavior, incidents of human fatalities cannot be ruled out. He has written to higher authorities requesting that the elephant be tranquilized and treated, considering the threat it poses.
The biggest concern, however, is that senior forest officials have not taken seriously the suggestions of local officers, who are closely monitoring the elephant’s movements on the ground. The continued presence of the aggressive female elephant in the Pathalgaon and Sitapur areas has instilled fear among villagers in several settlements under the Kansabel forest range.
Pathalgaon Forest Officer Kripa Sindhu Paikara noted that the presence of the female elephant along the Sarguja border is indeed alarming. He added that her movements are currently under observation.
