Deaths of 18 elephants shock the newly formed government in Assam

The death of 18 elephants at Bamuni hills under Nagaon district in Central Assam came as a shocker for the state government, particularly due to its timings. The incident took place a day after the Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues were sworn in.

Guwahati: The death of 18 elephants at Bamuni hills under Nagaon district in Central Assam came as a shocker for the state government, particularly due to its timings. The incident took place a day after the Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues were sworn in.

While expressing concern over the matter, Chief Minister Sarma have asked his colleague and environment and forest minister Parimal Shuklabaidya to visit the spot immediately and take stock of the situation.

The minister himself visited the Bamuni Hills on Friday and ordered an enquiry into the death of 18 elephants in the area, which fall under the Kothiatuli forest range in the Nagaon district. Shuklabaidya, the environment and forest minister for Assam has also instituted a seven-member committee of veterinarians that will carry out the probe and will submit a preliminary report within three days and a detailed investigation report within 15 days.

The death of the 18 elephants has also brought back the memories of the unabated killing of rhinos in the protected areas of Assam. The BJP government under the leadership of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal was always hailed by the people for his role in reducing the unabated killing of rhinos in Assam. While 22 rhinos were killed in 2016, the number drastically came down to a mere three in 2019.

Although the forest department officials and a local BJP legislator immediately jumped to the conclusion to term the death occurred due to lightning on the previous night, yet the argument has failed to convince the conservationists and wildlife enthusiasts in the state. The death of 18 elephants including ten females and four sub-adults have not only reminded the people of Assam about the unabated killing of rhinos in the past but also raised many questions about the security of the wildlife in Assam.

Although there are incidents of a large number of elephants getting killed due to lightning in some countries, it is perhaps the first of its kind of incident in Assam and other parts of the northeastern region. Locals expressed apprehension saying that the elephants have been killed either by poisoning or by electrocution by groups of people with vested interests.

"The death of 18 elephants at Bamuni forest in Nagaon is a matter of concern. We request the Assam government to carry out a probe into the incident of death of the elephants. If the elephants have not died due to lightning, the government must ensure that the culprits behind the incident are brought to the book," said Soumyadeep Datta, who heads Natures' Beckon, a well-known conservation organization in Assam.

"We are waiting for the postmortem report of the elephants. This type of incident of wild elephants getting killed in lightning never happened in Assam and India's northeast in the past. If it is killing there should be immediate action to arrest the guilty," he said.

On the other hand, Dr Bibhab Talukder, another conservationist and CEO & Secretary General of wildlife conservation organization, Aaranyak however, did not rule out the possibilities of death by lightning.

"I have been in touch with some activists in Africa, where I had worked in the past and they said that there had been some incidents of similar nature where herds of deer were killed due to lightning. I have also received some photographs from Bamuni forest where I can see some trees lying slit, which is indicative of the lightning. However, we have to wait for the post mortem report to get to the truth," he said.

With speculations rife about the death of 18 elephants, one has to wait for the postmortem report to ascertain the exact cause of the death of the 18 elephants.