BALANGIR JUMBO DEATH LEAVES MANY QUESTIONS UNANSWERED

BALANGIR JUMBO DEATH LEAVES MANY QUESTIONS UNANSWERED

Friday, 26 April 2013 | PNS | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar==

The death of an elephant near Kesipali in Agalpur block a couple of days ago has left many questions answered. The forest officials got report about the death of the elephant on Tuesday evening, according to Balangir DFO Abhiram Nayak.

The incident has led to suspicion of involvement of poachers in the killing. Forest officials only a small piece of tusk from the dead jumbo. But, the vital point is how the forest officials remained unaware of such an incident even as a vast chain of forest personnel at the village and block levels like Forest Guards and Rangers and various forest committees, Vana Suraksha Samitis are working in the areas.

As the body of the elephant was in a decomposed stage a layman would say that it must have been killed or have died eight to 10 days ago. But how the information did not reach forest officials is intriguing.

The postmortem of the elephant has, meanwhile, been completed, and, according to the report, the animal died “due to shock”. This has raised more questions such as in what situation the elephant died “due to shock”.

Ironically, the concerned forest range officer is on leave. President of Youth Congress, Balangir Lok Sabha constituency, Akash Mishra told this correspondent, “We demand a through inquiry into this incident. And all this has happened due to an unholy nexus between corrupt forest official and antisocial elements.

The man-animal conflict in this region is rising thanks to the faulty policy of the Government and lack of adequate forest cover. The Government should take appropriate steps to protect forests and save elephants.”