Tezpur, Feb 20: Nature and wildlife organisation "Hati-Bandhu' which is selflessly working in the field of mitigating the growing human-wild elephant conflict in the region has urged upon the government to adequately preserve the Arimora Chapori area as a home and safe passage for wildlife like the elephants, wild pigs, deer, Royal Ben gal tiger, wild buffalo, migratory birds etc.

The said chapori with acres of land adjacent to the Orang National Park and the Laokhowa Burha Chapori wildlife sanctuary is also a life line for farmers of villages like Parbatia, Beseria and Bihaguri. Many local farmers of these villages are earning their livelihood every year through dairy farming and cultivation of different kinds of seasonal crops, maintaining a coexistence with the wildlife of the chapori.

Moreover, in the context of the perennial human-wild elephant conflicts in the region, the Arimora Chapori has been playing a major role by providing safe passage to the wild jumbos coming down from the Sonai Rupai and Nameri National Park belts, thereby easing the volume of the problem that the villagers used to face during every harvest season.

Large herds of elephants including calves cross through the tea garden and village areas and fields every year during the crop harvesting season damaging both crops and other properties. As it is a part of the seasonal migration system of the grey giants to the human-inhabited areas, they come searching for food and due to the people's hue and cry, they get stuck in the fields near the elephant corridor of Depota and Bihaguri areas. The nature loving organisation's members drive these herds of the wild elephants to Arimora Chapori where they find adequate amount of food and shelter.

The Nameri-Sonai Rupai-Arimora Chapori corridor that intersects at the NH-15 at Depota area was proposed around a decade back to help elephants, has been facilitating seasonal migration with ease ensuring minimal human-elephant conflict in the region.

But the corridor is in a critical state now as despite strong protests by different organisations including the "Hati-Bandhu', large developmental projects coming up in the area obstruct the easy passage of elephants to the Arimora Chapori area.

However, with the help of the members of the wildlife organisations and with the support of the forest department, elephant herds move to the Arimora Chapori area and stay peacefully for many days.

Members of the Hati Bandhu Project of Sonitpur district chapter have alleged that during the past few days, some poachers have also been roaming in the area to hunt wild animals. Some suspected illegal Bangladeshi encroachers from the southern part are also trying to denude the greenery of the chaperi posing a threat to the very existence of the area, they said urging the authority concerned to take necessary measures in this regard.

Moreover, a wild buffalo has also been disturbing the domestic animals being reared in a number of cattle farms in the area. The local farmers said that this wild buffalo has killed a number of domestic animals till date. They have asked the forest department to take the wild buffalo out of the area so that their cattle could graze peacefully.

By Shambhu Boro