H.K. Kumaraswamy, Sakaleshpur MLA who is contesting again on Janata Dal(S) ticket, had a tough time calming down people of Attihalli when he went to campaign in the village recently. Every voter wanted to know what he had done to help them deal with the elephants walking free in the small hilly region.
Every candidate who comes to campaign in the Alur, Sakaleshpur and Yeslur ranges of the Forest Department in Hassan district in southern Karnataka faces the question. The 40-odd elephants in the small region often come into conflict with humans. Sixty people had died in elephant attacks in the district since 2001, and a majority of them are agriculture labourers who encountered them in the fields.
While this is a tough issue for candidates, conduct of elections too throws a challenge here. The district administration has identified 12 polling booths to provide additional security considering the elephant threat. The Forest Department has been entrusted with the responsibility to ensure the safety of voters.
Rapid response teams of 120 staff members are already on the field. “We have SMS-based and voice-based alert systems in place to spread the message across the villages about the movement of elephants. We give real-time updates to the public. The rapid response teams also rush to places on getting information,” Sivaram Babu M., Deputy Conservator of Forests, says. For the polling day, the department has decided to deploy special teams so that the people feel safe to visit the polling station.
Unending problem
MLAs from this region demand capture and relocation of the elephants. However, even after capturing more than 25 in the past three years, the problem has not ended.
Roughly 70 villages on the periphery of the forest area have been listed as badly hit by elephant encounters. In recent days, pachyderms have been moving to new areas, spreading fear. Two weeks ago, an elephant was spotted on the main streets of Sakaleshpur town, before attacking a man. Parents get worried if their children are late from school. People avoid going out in the evenings.
“We have seen an elephant walking on our streets early in the morning and drinking water in a nearby pond. Often, we form our groups to drive away elephants from our fields, without waiting for the Forest Department staff to reach the spot,” said R. Vasantha, an agriculture labourer of Changadihalli near Yeslur.
Whenever an elephant kills a person, people stage protests and stop vehicles on roads. As a knee-jerk reaction, the Forest Department brings in a team of tamed elephants and capture one or two trouble-causing elephants. However, the problem recurs in a few days.
