As uproar over the death of a captured elephant, in the custody of country’s famed mahout Parbati Barua, refuses to die down, the Chhattisgarh government has been compelled to withdraw its orders about killing of two wild tuskers responsible for huge loss to property and human lives in Jashpur district.Both the tuskers, declared dangerous animals by the state chief wildlife warden early this month, were ordered to be eliminated after the death of captured male tusker Basant Bahadur last month.Pressure from wildlife campaigners first sent Barua packing and then compelled the government to withdraw orders on eliminating the tuskers. An alarmed Chief Minister Ajit Jogi is understood to have told principal chief conservator of forests R.C. Sharma not to harm any more animals but to intensify efforts to capture them or trans-locate their natural habitat under experts supervision.‘‘Under the new strategy, we have withdrawn our earlier orders on the elimination of the two tuskers. None these animals will be harmed now,’’ confirmed state chief wildlife warden Anoop Bhalla. He said help has already been sought from Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.According to a fresh survey, 20-24 elephants strayed to the state from Jharkhand and Orissa due to the destruction of their natural habitat but only two of these — who strayed from the three herds — were responsible for human killings and loss of property. However, the one captured was not the one reponsible for the killings and property damage.Now even the people in three districts of Jashpur, Raigarh and Korba, who are the victims of elephant menace, are opposed to the killings after they have seen the captured elephant die in front of their eyes. ‘‘We are in the process of identifying some natural habitats within the state to chase all three herds away to,’’ Bhalla said.A Rs 5.4-crore project has also been submitted to the Ministry of Environment and Forests for financial assistance and support to the operation.Meanwhile, the Ministry of Forests and Environment has set up a three-member probe panel headed by S.C. Sharma, former additional director general of forests (wildlife), to inquire into the death of the captured elephant. The other members of the panel are N.Panneer Selvam, veterinary officer national Zoological park and S. Singh, director-in-charge, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehra Dun. The committee has been asked to submit its report within a month.‘‘The panel will look into the circumstances which led to the death of the animal and will fix the responsibility. It will also suggest measures to future handling of the problem in Chhattisgarh,’’ a senior state government official said. Meanwhile, the state government has also received notices which former Union minister Maneka Gandhi had slapped on Parbati Barua and the state principal chief conservator of forests.
