The North Bengal grand trunk silence

RAJGANJ, JALPAIGURI: The problem seldom crops up in poll speeches. But for a cluster of north Bengal villages the havoc wreaked by wild elephants is the most important issue. The jumbos kill people, destroy crops, ransack homes and have even forced a change in what farmers grow.

"The elephants come to eat bamboo leaves and often polish off paddy seeds," laments Sanjit Roy of Maringa Jhora, a village in Rajganj (SC) constitu ency. Following repeated attacks, another villager Atul Roy switched to growing tea. Shakti Banerjee, a Kolkatabased wildlife activist, has spent several years in north Bengal. Wildlife has never been a poll issue here, he says. "It's low priority because it doesn't fetch you votes."

But it's the central issue at villages like Nadhabari. "We patrol Nadhabari and Maringa Jhora daily . Last week they destroyed two homes. After one such incident, villagers had gheraoed us," says forest guard Anil Roy . "We use firecrackers and searchlights to send them back to the forest."

There's also a civic volunteer force that keeps vigil. Several elephant watch towers dot the area. Forest officials have dug a 10x10 foot ditch around the village but it hasn't deterred the tuskers. Meanwhile, all that government does is compensate for property or crop destroyed.

Anil maintains it isn't their fault: "These villages are surrounded by forests where there's no food left for them. They have no option but to raid villages." Banerjee, of Wildlife Protection Fund of India, agrees that elephant habitats are "shrinking". Sitting MLA of Rajganj, TMC's Khageswar Roy blames the Left. "In their time, forests vanished from north Bengal," but Banerjee says deforestation has spiked in recent years. Roy says after the polls, the new TMC government will find a long-term solution. He suggests setting up banana plantations to ensure elephants don't have to scrounge for food. Rajganj CPM candidate Satyendra Nath Mondal suggests planting lemon trees on the outskirts of villages. "The thorns keep elephants away ," he says.