DIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 15 (MExN): The presence of wild elephants reportedly foraging for food in the cultivable land and forest of New Riphyim village under Wokha district has become life threatening and a frustration for the entire community, chairman of the New Riphyim village has claimed.
Only recently a herd of wild elephants numbering around 50 have been sighted venturing inside the paddy fields of the village, posing grave danger to the villagers, Nyimtsemo Odyuo of New Riphyim village said in a press statement on Thursday.
New Riphyim village, which was declared as ‘Green Village’ by the Nagaland Government, have only a one-way road to their cultivations and plantations areas and with the presence of wild elephants, it has become unsafe for the villagers to even go to their fields, the chairman further claimed.
And since the villagers solely depend on farming activities for their livelihood, there is a growing apprehension among the villagers of their crops being raided and damaged by the elephants, thereby causing great loss.
The chairman also alleged that despite continuous reports of human-elephant conflicts in this part of the area in the media, both in print and in the social medium, no steps have been initiated by the state government to resolve the issue.
Unless the state government introduces proper policies and remedial measures or provides proper compensation to the villagers for the crops damaged, the poor villagers would have no other option but to go hungry this season without any plants, crops being harvested, the chairman stated.
Reports of human-elephant conflict have been frequently reported from Wokha district. When elephants and humans interact, there is conflict from crop raiding, injuries and deaths to humans caused by elephants, and elephants being killed by humans for reasons other than ivory and habitat degradation.
