Doomdooma: A herd of wild elephants entered the under-construction Tata Semiconductor Assembly and Test facility at Jagiroad in Assam’s Morigaon district early Saturday, bringing renewed attention to elephant movement in and around the industrial area.
The herd reportedly entered the construction site in search of food. Forest Department personnel and police were deployed to the area and attempted to drive the elephants back towards the nearby forested areas.
According to local reports, the elephants had descended from the nearby Sonaikuchi hills before entering the site. While the incident has drawn attention because of the ongoing semiconductor project, elephant movement in the area predates the facility.
Wild elephants were reportedly known to frequent the same landscape when the Nagaon Paper Mill was operational. In April 2022, an elephant entered the Kendriya Vidyalaya located within the paper mill premises after emerging from the nearby Sonaikuchi forest reserve in search of food.
The area surrounding Jagiroad forms part of a landscape used by elephants, with the Sonaikuchi Reserve Forest and its adjoining hill areas providing important habitat. In 2020, a calf was rescued after becoming trapped among rocks in the Sonakuchi hills. In 2024, a pregnant elephant reportedly died inside the reserve forest after coming into contact with a solar fence.
Concerns over elephant movement in the Jagiroad area have also intensified following the death of an adult elephant after it was hit by a train in July 2024. The incident prompted the government to call for a study to determine whether elephant occupancy patterns in the area were changing and whether their movement routes around Jagiroad required fresh mapping.
The latest incident highlights the need to consider existing wildlife movement patterns as industrial development expands in the region. The Rs 27,000-crore semiconductor project is being developed in a landscape that has historically witnessed intermittent elephant movement.
With construction activity increasing, wildlife experts and conservationists have stressed the importance of identifying elephant routes and ensuring safe movement between the Sonaikuchi hills and surrounding habitats. Such measures could help reduce the risk of human-elephant conflict as development progresses.
“Development must not come at the cost of our flora and fauna, especially our elephants,” wildlife enthusiast Ranjeeta Nayak said.
The latest elephant intrusion underscores the challenge of balancing large-scale industrial development with the ecological needs of wildlife that have long used the surrounding landscape.