Pachyderm: Wokha villagers begin New Year on a bad note

Eastern Mirror Desk Dimapur, Jan. 3: The menace posed by elephants in Wokha continues even as the situation has become a usual conflict between villagers and the pachyderm there. Adding to the conflict tally, three vegetable fields were entirely ravaged again on Jan. 1 at Mekokla village, in Wokha district. The village’s council chairman, Nyamo Z Yanthan said three farmers had gone to their fields on Jan. 1, during which they saw the fields ravaged. Fortunately, the chairman said, there was no casualty from the incident. Mentioning that the district’s administration had informed him that it would be sending officials on Jan. 4, the chairman hoped that the officials would take necessary steps to prevent such incidents in the future. The deputy commissioner of Wokha, Manzir Jeelani Samoon told Eastern Mirror over the phone that the administration would be sending Wokha District Disaster Management Authority officials, on Jan. 4 to assess the situations. He added that the officials will be distributing emergency relief to the villagers. Year 2018 ended with heartache for farmers of Mekokla village as elephants numbering around 30 to 35 entered a farm land at Haili, about seven kilometres away from Mekokla, and destroyed rubber and sugarcane plantations on the night of Dec. 25, and early hours of Dec. 26. The chairman informed then that no casualty was caused to farmers; they were in the village for Christmas celebrations. On Nov. 16 2018 though, a farmer lost his life and another was severely injured when they were sleeping inside a hut in a terraced paddy field about six kilometres away from Mekokla. Crops, plantation, and field houses were also damaged. Another incident of elephants destroying fields and field property was reported from New Wokha village, on Nov. 18. The village’s development board’s secretary, Chichamo Kithan told Eastern Mirror over the phone then that the elephants had damaged paddy fields and destroyed two farm houses on the night of Nov. 18. The fields belonged to farmers from New Wokha village. Similarly in 2016, a farmer from Longtsung village was trampled to death while an unspecified number of people were injured during the encounter with the pachyderm. In 2015, a villager hailing from Old Riphyim village was also mauled to death. Yanthan said that the situation has become a usual conflict between villagers and the elephants, resulting in fear psychosis among villagers. Consequently, village authorities in Wokha have been urging the district administration and the department of Forest to activate wildlife control and initiate measures to prevent conflict in the future. Despite continued threat—on an alarming increase—the absence of any worthwhile intervention into the conflict and mitigation of it, continues to pose a grave threat to both people and the elephants in Wokha district.