Joint Indo-Nepal task force to curb movement of elephants

A meeting on this issue was held yesterday in Siliguri which was attended by police and forest officials of Darjeeling district and Jhapa, Illam and Panchothori districts of Nepal.

The Indian side was led by Darjeeling District Magistrate Soumitra Mohan while the Chief Development Officer (CDO) of Jhapa, Illam and Panchothori districts represented Nepal.

"The task force would deal with many issues, including how to curb the movement of Indian elephants from entering Nepal and how the local people of Nepal would tackle the animals without killing them," the top district official of Darjeeling who was present in the meeting said.

Mohan said the killing of the elephants in Nepal is a matter of concern. The Indian elephants frequently move towards Nepal and they are either being killed or injured there.

"We have discussed with our Nepali counterparts how this can be stopped. The meeting was basically on the issue of better border management. We also discussed how to stop the trans-border smuggling and human trafficking," he said .

The Jhapa CDO Nrendra Sharma, Illam CDO Bhuban Khaiwara and Panchthori CDO Koshhari Nirlula, particiated in the meeting alongwith police and forest officials from Nepal.