2 DHARM SANSAD ORGANISERS CLAIM THREAT TO THEIR LIVES, SEEK PROTECTION

HARIDWAR: Dharma Sansad convener and Shri Panchdashnam Juna Akhada pontiff Swami Yatindranand Giri has sought police protection fearing threat to his life. Giri, according to his supporters, has received a threat letter.

Mahamandaleshwar and another Dharma Sansad organiser Swami Yati Narsinghanand, who is on bail in a hate speech case, also expressed threat to his life from extremist elements. On Sunday, he gave up his sit in at Haridwar in view of threat to his life.

Narsinghanand has been agitating for the past four days at Sarvanand Ganga ghat, demanding release of Wasim Rizvi aka Jitendra Narayan Tyagi. Rizvi was formerly Uttar Pradesh Shia Waqf Board chairperson.

When contacted, senior superintendent of Haridwar police Yogendra Singh Rawat said a delegation of seers has met him to appraise about threat to Yatindranand Giri. “We are probing the matter and due directions have been given to officials to investigate it,” he said.

Yatindranand Giri, who is based in Roorkee, said he has received a threat letter from a man named Juber, who claims to be from an Islamist organisation. Juber allegedly threatened to killing him as he is associated with Dharma Sansad.

Yatindranand Giri, who had contested on a BJP ticket in 2009 parliamentary elections from Haridwar constituency, is convener of Dharma Sansad which was held in Haridwar in December last year.

A delegation of seers led by Swami Prabodhanand Giri, Sagar Sindhu Maharaj, Vinod Maharaj and Kamlesh Anand met the senior superintendent Haridwar police, demanding security cover for Yatindranand Giri and a probe into threat letter. “A few days ago, Yatindranand Giri received a threat letter..,” said Mahamandaleshwar Prabodhanand Giri.

Sandeep Rawat and Mohan Rajput

HARIDWAR/RUDRAPUR/DEHRADUN: With a rise in the elephant population in Uttarakhand, man-elephant conflict is increasing in Terai areas, resulting in both human and animal deaths. In the last four days, three elephants have died in the state, one in a train-hit incident in Haldwani.

The aggression of elephants in Corbett landscape, Rajaji National Park landscape and Tarai areas is emerging as a major concern for wildlife officials. Elephants regularly create ruckus in and around Nainital, US Nagar and Haridwar districts, leading to traffic interruptions and damage to vehicles.

The state has 2,026 elephants, according to the elephant census held last year. The state has recorded a 29.9% increase in elephant numbers since 2015. In 2012, there were 1,559 elephants in the state and 1,839 in 2017.

Last month videos and photos of a herd of elephants climbing a hilly area and rampaging a remote village in Nainital district went viral on social media. The herd ventured into Devidhura village in a hilly terrain, and villagers saved themselves by running away from their houses. Forest officials claimed that for the first time under the Nainital forest division, elephants had reached such a height. Devidhura village is situated at an altitude of more than 1,500 metres above sea level, the officials said.

Ritesh Joshi, a wildlife scientist and the author of ‘Secret Life of Elephants’, said man-elephant conflict was increasing in Uttarakhand due to fragmentation of

India has more than half of the world’s Asian elephant population.

Elephant has been declared as “National Heritage of India” by the central government.

Since 1986, Indian elephant has been listed as Endangered by IUCN as the population has declined by at least 50% over the past 60 to 75 years or three generations. Indian elephants have an average life span is 60 to 70 years and gestation period of 22 months.

traditional elephant corridors, availability of easy food sources near fringe of forests and near villages, and increase in human and jumbo population.

Man-animal conflict in Kumaon

Most of the elephants in Uttarakhand are found in Corbett landscape and Terai areas, where they regularly come into conflict with humans. Wild elephants recently trampled sugarcane crop in villages adjacent to forests in Haldwani area of Nainital district. The angry farmers demanded that the forest department

Elephant populations are found in India’s four major areas Himalayan foothills in northwest (Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh), Himalayan foothills in northeast (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram), central region (Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh) and southern region (Karnataka, Kerala).

Elephant is listed under

Schedule-I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, thus getting maximum legal protection shoo way elephants from their villages and take some long-term measures to tackle the problem. “Kumaon’s Terai (plain) and Bhavar (foothill area) areas are favourite habitats of elephants. They not only roam freely in areas in and around

Nainital and US Nagar districts but also venture into villages, damaging crops. Many of them also get killed in train-hit incidents. infighting and electrocution,” said BS Shahi, divisional forest officer (DFO), Terai west

After the death of two elephants in train-hit incidents on August 18 last year, railway authorities had assured the state forest department of lowering the speed of trains in the Kumaon’s Terai area. The railway authorities maintained that they have set up the speed limit for trains passing through forest areas in Kumaon at 30 to 45 km per hour.

One female elephant and her calf were killed in Peepal Parao forest range on Lalkuan-Kashipur route in US Nagar on August 18 after being hit by a speeding train. Since many elephants had lost their lives on Lalkuan-Kashipur and LalkuanKichha routes in recent years, the forest department requested the railway authorities to set the speed limit so that elephants are not killed in train hit incidents.

In July 2020, a three-year-old elephant was killed in Nakraunda area of Dehradun forest division in train hit incident and a 35-year-old female elephant in November last year. In May 2018, a five-year-old female elephant died in a trainhit incident on Lalkuan-Bareilly railway track in Nainital district and another elephant in March 2018 near Nagla bypass on the same line. In April, 2017 two elephant calves were killed in a train-hit incident near Haldi railway station in Kumaon.

In August 2018, while expressing concern over the death of elephants in train-hit incidents, the Uttarakhand high court had directed the railway ministry to construct underpasses in the identified elephant corridors in the state and ensure that the speed of the trains should be the lowest possible while they are passing through the corridors. The court had given these directions while hearing a public interest litigation regarding encroachments around Corbett tiger reserve. The HC had also directed the forest department to coordinate with the railway department through wireless and put an animal tracking system in place to ensure wild animals are not killed in train hits. The division bench also remarked that officials should have compassion while dealing with matters related to the wildlife in the state.

“Elephants cross railway lines in search of food or water or to reach another part of the forest and are killed due to speeding trains. It is good that the railway has set speed limit for trains in Lalkuan-Kichha, Lalkuan-Kashipur and Banbasa-Khatima routes for the safety of elephants. Trains ply at 30-km speed at certain patches of the forest,” said Rajesh Srivastva, a retired forest officer from Haldwani.

Man-animal conflict in Garhwal region

Elephants have been creating ruckus in many areas of Haridwar from time to time.

In March last year, panic gripped people and security personnel when a wild elephant entered the mahakumbh tent camp area in Haridwar, following which a forest team from Rajaji Tiger Reserve and Kumbh Mela Force personnel rushed to area and shooed away the wild elephant. In the same month, during the staging of a royal procession (peshwayi) during the Kumbh fair, a trained elephant had also created panic as it went berserk and intimidated the onlookers. In the same month, a wild elephant created panic at Haridwar railway station for more than 40 minutes. In February last year, a forest guard was killed by an elephant at Beriwada range while the patrolling team he was part of was on routine duty in Rajaji Tiger Reserve.

In July 2020, an elephant entered Bilkeshwar Colony, just 1.5 km from Har-Ki-Pauri in Haridwar, created ruckus and damaged boundary walls and vehicles parked outside the houses. In April 2020, an elephant was spotted at Har-Ki-Pauri where he was seen taking a sip in the Ganga and splashing water on his body.

In the last few weeks, with a slight change in weather conditions post cold wave, movement of elephants towards residential areas and agricultural fields has increased in areas adjacent to Rajaji reserve in Haridwar district. As a result, the forest department and Rajaji reserve authorities have upped patrolling and vigil in the sensitive wild animal-prone areas in the district.

Sighting of elephants is being reported in Katarpur, Pathri, Missirpur, Ajeetpur, Panjanhedi and Jeopata villages. Vikas Kashyap of Katarpur village said, “A herd of elephants has been spotted by the villagers in past few days. Villagers informed forest department personnel and urged them to shoo away the elephant herd.”

According to Haridwar forest ranger Dinesh Naudiyal, the department is taking steps to prevent elephants from intruding into residential areas and agricultural fields. “Movement of elephants has increased as a result of which additional vigil and patrolling has been started in sensitive areas. We have told villagers to immediately inform us in case they spot elephant movement,” said Naudiyal.

Experts says change in weather condition and standing crops of sugarcane and wheat as major factors behind movement of elephants from the forests towards villages and agricultural fields. “With sunshine throughout the day and no foggy conditions now, movement of elephants is increasing post intense winter months of November to January. In search of food, they come sugarcane and wheat crop fields,” said Gagan Matta, assistant professor at environment science department in Gurukul Kangri University.

According to forest officials, under ₹39-crore man-wildlife conflict mitigation project, over 280-km-long fencing, including solar fencing, will be done in different parts of the state at a cost of over ₹18 crore. Also, over 1,393-km elephant-proof trenches will be built in areas, where elephants come into conflict with humans, at a cost of ₹ 4.4 crore. Both fencing and trenches will act as barriers, preventing wildlife from sneak into residential areas, officials say.

SINCE 2015, STATE HAS RECORDED A 29.9% INCREASE IN ELEPHANT NUMBERS. NOW, THE STATE HAS 2,026 ELEPHANTS