Karnataka - Hassan   

Concern shown over elephant deaths

Dissatisfied: Members of the Malnad Janapara Horata Samiti protesting against the apathy of the Forest Department, in Hassan on Wednesday.

HASSAN: Members of the Malnad Janapara Horata Samiti (MJHS) led by its secretary H.A. Kishore Kumar staged a dharna in front of the office of the Deputy Conservator of Forests here on Wednesday expressing concern over the electrocution of elephants in Hassan district. In three months, as many as three elephants have been electrocuted.

They also charged the Department of Forests with not having taken these deaths seriously. Other progressive organisations also participated in the dharna. Later, they presented memorandums to Deputy Conservator of Forests K.H. Nagaraj and Deputy Commissioner K.H. Aswathanarayana Gowda.

The members also appealed to the Government to establish an elephant sanctuary on the Sri Lankan model wherein all infrastructure such as water, plants that produced food for elephants, bamboo and sugarcane were grown deep in the forests, so that elephants did not come to nearby villages. They demanded that steps be taken to prevent killing of wild elephants immediately; make public post-mortem reports of the three elephants that had died recently; withdraw permission to set up mini-hydropower generation projects in reserve forest areas; cultivation of row bamboo, datary (Byne), jack fruit and “vate” plants inside the forest that serve as food for the animals; relocation of wild elephants deep into the forest; enhancement in compensation for farmers whose crops had been damaged by wild elephants; initiation of steps to prevent cutting of trees in the forest; withdrawal of permission given to the Nagarjuna mini-hydropower generation project in Kadumane forest in Sakleshpur taluk, as it prevents elephants from venturing deep into the forests; and disconnection of power connections of farmers who electrify fencing.

They also urged the officials to visit the spots where elephants were killed.

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