The office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF), Wildlife, Assam has ordered to pay ex gratia to the family members of those killed and the injured as a result of man-elephant conflicts in West Karbi Anglong.

A total of 14 families are the beneficiaries of the compensation.

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Among the 14 families, the number of people killed is 9 and the number the injured is five. The total amount of compensation to be paid is Rs 20.1 lakh.

The compensation to be paid to the families of deceased Janki Devi, Sarbura Dera, Imrana Begum (Rs 4 lakh each), Ram Phangcho, Manik Ch Chauhan, Hari Bahadur Dorji, Jagdip Rajbhar, Bijon Marak, Kalpana Tiwari (Rs 1 lakh each) and those injured are Kareng Kropi (Rs 40,000), Bijoy Rajbhar, Prodip Rajbhar, Santanu Mishra and Pooja Kumari (Rs 30,000 each).

Range Officer, Kheroni Chandra Sing Tisso informed that compensation has been increased from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 4 lakh from May, 2016 onwards.

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Due to deforestation and encroachment of reserved forest areas, the habitats of wild elephants have degraded and they are forced to look for food in populated areas. The wild elephants enter villages and raided silos of paddy damaging residences in the process. The elephants also forage on standing crop thus damaging them.

Due to decrease in forest areas leading to less area for forage by wild elephants, the incidents of man-elephant conflicts have been increasing day by day. Man-elephant conflict has become a common occurrence in West Karbi Anglong for the last 3 decades leading to loss of several lives and damages to property.