State records 55 tusker deaths in last three years

Raipur: As the world acknowledges ‘The Elephant Whisperer’, an Oscar winning Indian documentary, Chhattisgarh on the other hand recorded 55 elephant deaths. These deaths included 14 deaths due to electrocution over the last three years, In a written reply to Ajay Chanrakar (BJP), forest minister Mohammad Akbar informed the Vidhan Sabha that amognst all elephants, six were killed after coming in contact with the live electric wire traps set up by poachers. He added that last year, 58581 cases of loss of life and property were reported due to human elephant conflict.For which a compensation of Rs 53.43 crore has already been paid. Pointing out the efforts being made to reduce human-elephant conflict, the forest minister said Lemru elephant project, centrally project elephant and states elephant habitat development are being carried out in the state.