C'garh forest land deed issuance possibly leading to elephant

Three people were killed in elephant attacks in the last 48 hours in Chhattisgarh's Korba district and a probe report stated that the distribution of "vanadhikar patta" (forest land deeds) to people was possibly leading to these human-elephant conflicts.

Forest officials said that Sukhmat Bai Yadav (70) was killed today morning after an elephant attacked her in Nawapara forest, part of the Katghora forest division, in Bagbuda village in the district.

Earlier, Ramcharan Rathiya (75) was killed yesterday night by an elephant in Sakdukala village in Kartala forest range in Korba district, Sub Divisional Officer (south Korba forest sub division) Manish Kashyap said today.

Another villager from Sakdukala village, Nevratin Bai (78), was tramped to death by an elephant yesterday morning when she had gone to collect forest produce.

Local forest officials said that five people had been killed in elephants attacks in the region in the past one month.

A probe report submitted by Kashyap has cited the distribution of "vanadhikar patta" (forest land deeds) to people in these areas. along with encroachment, as a likely cause of the spike in human-elephant conflicts.

It is the first time that forest authorities have blamed the issuance of "vanadhikar patta" for human-elephant conflicts.

The report adds that people residing inside the forest grow jackfruit, mangoes, mahua, banana and other seasonal fruits in their "baadis", or vegetable gardens, which attract the pachyderms.

The report also mentioned that several villagers have encroached on forest land, in order to get land titles, which in turn was reducing the area available for elephants.

The report has been submitted to the Korba Collector as well the Divisional Forest Officer and Chief Conservator of Forest (Bilaspur Circle).

The thickly forested northern Chhattisgarh, comprising Surguja, Korba, Raigarh, Jashpur and Korea districts, are prone to human-elephant conflicts.