Rourkela: Even as man-elephant conflicts continue to cause enormous loss to human lives and properties, outsourcing of inexperienced people by the forest department to drive out the jumbos has worsened the situation, a report said.
The men neither have knowledge on the forest route nor are they familiar with the movement of elephants since they are not from nearby villages, it was learnt.
One such person, engaged in the elephant squad, was trampled to death August 13 last year at Gudchhapalla forest under Kuanrmunda range due to his inexperience.
The deceased, Pati Dhibar, who mistakenly came before a herd due to his lack of experience was crushed to death.
“Many of us, without having experience, are working in the squad to eke out a living,” said a squad member under a condition of anonymity.
Neither the outsourcing agency nor the forest department arranges a training programme for the members before they are being inducted into the squad to drive out jumbos, he added.
It was learnt that the agency doesn’t provide facilities like EPF or ESI to the squad members. Moreover, the agency misappropriates the money sanctioned for the squad members.
The agency assigned to drive out the elephants has engaged nearly 200 personnel without giving them proper training, said Chakranta Jena, the general secretary of private security agency owners’ association.
He alleged the personnel are deployed at regions where there is almost no movement of elephants and false bills are raised to bungle funds.
Hurling more allegations, Jena said, the department has roped in a blacklisted firm to drive out the elephants.
The firm was blacklisted after one of its employees raped a minor girl in a hospital of Sambalpur district, he added.
When contacted, elephant expert Satya Narayan Mishra said the squad members should know the migration route of the pachyderms. People with no such knowledge often forces the elephants into wrong routes leading to a loss of lives and properties, he pointed out.
Rourkela DFO Sanjay Kumar Swain said the outsourcing agency doesn’t train squad members. The members acquire knowledge while working with the forest department staff.
On the matter of EPF/ESI facilities, Swain said, the agency claims it provides such benefits to its employees.
A meeting was recently held with the outsourcing agency and it was decided that the squad members would be given additional inputs in this regard, the DFO further said.
