Mammoth gates along Indo-Bangla border for elephants to pass

When the Indo-Bangla border in Assam is sealed completely by next year an exception could, however, be made for elephants to pass through with the help of jumbo-sized gates.
According to officials of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, the project could see light of the day in the coming months as the Bangladesh government is expected to send a positive response soon.
"Talks are in advanced stages with Bangladesh. We are waiting for their approval which we hope will come soon. Once we get a green signal from them work will begin," Project Elephant director R K Srivastava told PTI from Delhi.

As part of the plan, forest department teams from Assam, Meghalaya and Bangladesh will sit together and identify places along the international border which are used by the jumbos to cross over to the other side.
Mammoth sized gates will then be constructed along such routes which have been part of elephant corridors for hundreds of years but have now become fragmented due to increasing human settlements leading to man-elephant conflicts.
"The gates will be manned by security forces guarding the border. The task of the forest department personnel will be to keep track of the movement of elephants and inform the guards to open the gates for herds to cross the border safely," Srivastava said.

Amidst concern over infiltration of migrants from Bangladesh, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had recently issued instructions to seal the 284-km-long border between Assam and Bangladesh by June 2017.
Officials said a surveillance mechanism would also be put in place to keep tabs on suspicious movements through the corridors meant for the pachyderms.