In Chhattisgarh, officials want voters in poll arena, elephants not so much

Feeding elephants to conduct free and fair election is something unheard of! But in Chhattisgarh’s coal-rich Sarguja division, forest officials are busy offering all that is delicious to elephants. The efforts have been successful; the elephants are eating and not straying into villages, leaving the election process undisturbed.

About a fortnight ago, a group of journalists visited the office of Chief Conservator of Forest (Sarguja) K K Bisen to enquire what measures were being taken to ensure free and fair election. “We have worked out a plan and will ensure free election,” Bisen said.

Following the movement of elephants and their conflict with  humans, polling parties fear visiting the interior areas of the district and so do the villagers. 

Mohanpur is one such village, located about 20 km from Sarguja in the Surajpur forest division. There are 550 voters in the village, which has been affected by the elephant problem and people do not venture out after dusk. “You never know when the elephants would come and damage the crops and houses,” said Jai Mangal, panchayat representative. 

If the elephants are on the move, people would not come out to vote, he said, adding that poll parties were working in fear. However, when the region goes to the polls on November 20 in the second phase of election in Chhattisgarh, it would be without fear — Bisen’s action plan had started yielding results.

A group of 17 elephants had been moving in the area. “Under the plan, they have been confined in an area of about 1,600 acres in the adjoining forests of Mohanpur and Chandrapur,” Bisen said. Besides digging big ponds to create drinking water sources for the elephants, Bisen had taken initiatives that he claimed to be unique in the country.

“By the sides of the pond, we have created a kitchen-like setup and stocked all those materials that are dear to elephants,” Bisen said. Sugarcane and salt are among the items dumped in the natural kitchen. “The group is visiting the place and has confined themselves to the forests,” Bisen said, adding that solar fencing had also been done to avoid leaving the forests and intrude into the villages.

The villagers are elated and relieved despite another challenge at the doorstep. “A group of 25 elephants is entering the region from Sundergarh and have been located by our spotting mechanism,” Bisen said. In all, 125 elephants have been spotted in the Sarguja area, mostly migrating from Odisha, allegedly because of large-scale mining and deforestation.

For the elephants, Chhattisgarh remains a safe haven because major coal reserves in the division remain unexplored because many densely forested pockets had been earlier declared “no-go” areas. The division has an estimated reserve of 21 billion but hardly 15 per cent had mined.

The Hasdeo Arand coalfield is the biggest among the seven in the division, covering 1,878 square km, of which 1,502 square km has forest cover. The coalfield has estimated reserves of 5.179 billion tonnes of high-grade coal; 1.369 billion tonnes have been proven to date. More than 30 coal blocks have been mapped but mining is taking place only in three.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on his way to address an election campaign in Raipur on Monday (Photo: PTI)

A 4,000 Mw ultra mega power project (UMPP) was shelved as it came under dense forest and could have had rake up environment issues. The elephants’ movement is in the corridors that have rich coal deposits. “The situation is now under control but the elephant-human conflict will take an alarming twist once mining activities intensified in the area,” said green activist Alok Shukla.

The roaming tuskers have never created any problem even for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Literally, the government has never been in the dock for mining related issue or green norms violation. Physical elephant is not a political issue. But the party is baffled with the other elephant---beaming from the billboards and walls despite less influence on the ground.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) with green elephant as its party symbol has failed to make a significant presence in the region that has spoilsport BJP’s calculation. The BSP has reached an alliance with the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh, headed by former chief minister Ajit Jogi. It has posed a big challenge for the Congress party. The BSP-Jogi team would ultimately split the anti-BJP votes, which would be a gain for the ruling party. 

The Congress has a stronghold in the Sarguja division, which comprises 14 assembly seats. In the 2013 elections, both the Congress and BJP had bagged seven seats each. The party has an edge over the BJP in the region. The ruling party is banking on the alliance to eat into Congress votes. 

But the theory is now working; the alliance has its considerable sway only in two to three constituencies.