Odisha, which is home to 2,013 elephants as per the latest census conducted in last November, is annually losing 81 pachyderms since the last three years, Forest Minister Ganesh Ram Singh Khuntia told the Assembly on Wednesday.

Elaborating the causes of death, he said poaching, electrocution, train accidents, road accidents, various diseases, human revenge and other natural causes such as herd-fight, falls from hills, drowning, and old age have resulted in the fatalities.

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The elephant census shows that there are 254 elephants in Angul district, 132 elephants in Cuttack district, 83 elephants in Khordha district, 291 elephants in Dhenkanal district, 56 in Nayagarh district, 54 in Balasore district, 195 in Keonjhar district, 295 in Mayurbhanj district, 93 in Ganjam district, 9 in Gajapati district, 54 in Kandhamal district, 16 in Boudh district, 3 in Subarnapur district, 42 in Bolangir district, 140 in Sambalpur district, 95 in Kalahandi district, 179 in Sundargarh district, 1 in Jharsuguda district, 107 in Deogarh district, 3 in Bargarh district and 1 in Rayagada district, the minister said.

Elephants roam from forest to forest in search of their food. Sometimes they enter villages due to which conflicts between elephants and humans occur and the government is taking the following steps to address this.

Plantation of fodder trees for elephants in the forest, development of grazing land, creation of artificial reservoirs, protection from forest fires, anti-poaching camps, forest patrols, monitoring of wildlife and poachers’ movements, awareness etc. have been made through the use of technology.

To protect crops, orchards and other infrastructure from elephant encroachment, “Jan Suraksha & Gaja Raksha” scheme has been launched in villages that are more prone to encroachment, in which the government has made concessions for installing solar fences to protect them from elephant encroachment, the Minister informed the House.

Steps have been taken to prevent the intrusion of elephants by digging elephant proof trenches. Through the Van Suraksha Samiti (VSS) and the Environment Development Committee (EDC), volunteers called “Gaja Saathi” are being identified in villages sensitive to elephant encroachment and alerting the villagers about elephant movements.

To prevent encroachment of wild animals, awareness is being created among the people and compassionate compensation is being provided as per the rules set by the government for damage caused by encroachment. A simple and user-friendly portal called “Anukampa” has been introduced for the prompt disbursement of assistance, the Minister concluded.