Radio bulletin to check manelephant conflicts
People, be aware. A herd of 18 elephants was moving around in Dhanbad district’s Tundi block since March 26 and it could stay for a few more days.
Another herd of 12 was spotted in Kutingya village in Simdega district and an elephant each in Chandwa and Barwa Toli in Latehar districts.
The warning and the information is from a unique three-minute broadcast on an FM radio channel that the Jharkhand forest department started to check growing man-elephant conflicts in the state.
This special elephant bulletin — called Hamar Haathi, Hamar Saathi or My Elephant, My Friend, was aired at 4.30pm on Sunday.
The radio jockey informed listeners about the locations where herds of elephants have been spotted and the direction in which they might be headed. The jockey advised the listeners to be vigilant.
“We have tied up with a private FM channel to spread awareness about elephant movements and prevention required to reduce life and property loss,” said principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife) LR Singh, informing that the bulletin will be aired twice daily — at 8.30am and 4.30pm.
Jharkhand along with Chhattisgarh and Odisha is home to 10% of the country’s elephant population, and account for approximately 65% of human casualties in conflicts with wild herds or stray bulls.
The forest department’s record says 277 people were killed by elephants in Jharkhand in the past five years, including 56 in 2017. Casualties on the other side is rising
Minister of state for external affairs VK Singh on Sunday left for Iraq to bring back the mortal remains of the 39 Indians, killed in the war-torn country, officials said.
The minister is expected to bring back the bodies by Monday.
“The minister left around 1 PM from the Hindon airbase and is expected to return with the bodies tomorrow,” an official said on Sunday.
After coming back, he will first go to Amritsar followed by Patna and Kolkata to hand over the bodies to their relatives, official sources said.
Families of some of these victims had met external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj here on March 26.
Earlier this month, Swaraj had told Parliament that as many as 40 Indians were abducted by terror group ISIS from Mosul in Iraq in June 2014, but one of them escaped posing as a Muslim from Bangladesh.
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