The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Submit action plan on Project Elephant: official

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Saturday, Dec 22, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Submit action plan on Project Elephant: official

Staff Reporter

The project is being implemented in 13 States and Union Territories
It provides technical support to States for protection of elephants

BANGALORE: All the States that come under the centrally sponsored Project Elephant scheme will henceforth have to submit an action plan about conservation and other measures to get the annual financial assistance, Inspector-General of Forests and Director of Project Elephant A.N. Prasad has said.

Mr. Prasad said the action plan to be submitted for a period of five years should contain “monitorable” targets. “For example, a scheme related to elephant corridors should have the number of corridors to be tackled, the number of areas and people who would be affected.” The idea here is to have continuity in the implementation of the schemes irrespective of the changes in the officialdom, Mr. Prasad told The Hindu on the sidelines of a workshop on elephant corridors held here on Thursday. “A GO (government order) will be sent to all the States shortly,” he added.

Launched in 1992, the Project Elephant is being implemented in 13 States and Union Territories namely Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Orissa, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. The project was extended to Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh recently.

Technical support

Apart from providing financial support, Project Elephant provides technical support to elephant-bearing States for protection of elephants, their habitats and corridors. It also addresses the issues of man-elephant conflict and welfare of domesticated elephants. In the 10th Five Year Plan the project received Rs. 45 crore. “The tentative outlay for the 11th Plan would be about Rs. 95 crore,” Mr. Prasad said.

He said insistence on the action plan was necessitated following the Planning Commission issuing detailed guidelines about the use of the outlay for the project. Such an action plan would have a long-term vision and prevent wasteful expenditure on schemes “which comes to an end with the change in the official,” Mr. Prasad said.

Compensation

Mr. Prasad said he had written to all the States to expedite the process of paying compensation for the victims of elephant attack as well as those suffering damage.

Asked about electrocution of elephants, which is a major cause of the animal’s death, Mr. Prasad said “We give the necessary support and assistance. Real work should be done by the forest departments concerned.”

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