Ranchi: Conceding that the elephant-human conflict, resulting in fatalities, has emerged as one of the biggest concerns in the state, the Jharkhand govt on Saturday said it was working on a holistic strategy to address man-animal conflicts.Elephant fury since January has claimed over 30 lives across districts with most cases reported from West Singhbhum, Hazaribag, Bokaro, and Ramgarh. In Ramgarh, elephants wrecked havoc in December last year too.Replying to a call attention motion on the issue moved by Lohardaga MLA (Congress) Rameshwar Oraon and Ajsu-P’s Mandu Nirmal Mahto, minister Sudivya Kumar admitted that the growing tussle was a concern for the govt too.“The govt is seriously working on ways to contain this by undertaking specialised studies and conceptualising plans. We have planned to form at least one quick response teams (QRTs) at each of the five commissionary levels to respond in times of crisis. This apart, plan is afoot to set up an Elephant Rescue Centre (ERC) in the state, and bring six Kunki elephants for the purpose of containing the rogue elephants,” he said.On the demand to raise the amount of compensation from Rs 4 lakh in case of death, govt said that while there are no immediate plans to raise the amount, standard operating procedure (SOPs) are being framed both for speedy compensation in 10 days and other aspects.Chief minister Hemant Soren, in his address, said, “The govt is working out holistic plans to curb the growing menace of not just elephant, but wildlife vs human conflicts in totality. The govt is also undertaking studies to adopt best practices from other elephant bearing states. If elephant terror is increasing due to illegal mining in their corridors, govt will also act accordingly to curb it.”Govt said that officially they don’t have any information about such practice.During question hour, Jamshedpur West MLA Saryu Roy had raised question of illegal mining in Damodar river in Dhanbad-Bokaro region by changing course of the river.Minister Sudivya has denied of anything based on the reports from the field. Roy however presented the pictures in the House, to which he said that they will get it verified for appropriate action.Chatra MLA Janardhan Paswan demanded raising the retirement age of govt and outsourcing staff from 62 to 65, to which finance minister said that the govt doesn’t have any such plans.“We want to speed up filling vacant posts and give jobs to many education youths waiting for their turn,” he said.
