Drones equipped with night-vision technology to check man-elephant conflicts in Jharkhand

Ranchi, Sep 2 (PTI) Jharkhand Forest department is working on a plan to deploy drones equipped with night-vision technology to check human-elephant conflicts in Ranchi division, a forest official said on Tuesday.

Ranchi forest division is preparing a proposal in this regard and it will be submitted to the concerned authority soon for approval, he said.

If the pilot project in Ranchi yields desired results, it will be implemented in other divisions also, the official added.

"A test run of drone surveillance has been conducted in Ranchi's Silli forest area. The results were encouraging, whether in daylight or at night. The high-powered night vision camera fitted with the drone provided clear vision of the movement of an elephant herd in the forest area at night," Ranchi Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Srikant Verma told PTI.

He said the use of drone surveillance of elephant movement will prove to be instrumental in checking man-elephant conflicts, which claim several lives every year.

Jharkhand lost 95 lives on average in five years since the fiscal 2019-2020.

As per a data tabled by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in Parliament in February, man-elephant conflicts in Jharkhand have claimed as many as 474 lives over a span of five years since the 2019-20 fiscal.

A total of 87 lives were lost due to such incidents in 2023-24, lower than the figure of 2022-23 and 2021-22 when the state witnessed the deaths of 96 and 133 people, respectively, it stated.

Jharkhand stands second across the country in terms of fatalities due to man-elephant conflicts after Odisha, which recorded 624 deaths during the period.

Verma said Silli, Bedo, Hundru, Mudmu and Tandwa in Latehar district are considered to be conflict zones in the Ranchi forest division.

Some parts of Latehar and Lohardaga districts fall under Ranchi forest division, he added.

"During the test run, we found the elephants are visible even in mild forest canopy. Besides, we found that the animals were unaffected by the drone movement," Verma added.

It will help real-time monitoring and coordination with the patrolling team, he said.

"Many times, we are not able to trace location of elephants in forest, particularly at night. The drone will help find their location and we could also alert people accordingly," Verma said.

He said the price of the drone is a little high, above Rs 40 lakh.

In Jharkhand, altogether 17 elephant corridors have been identified so far, an official said.

Former state wildlife board member D S Srivastava said unplanned development work, mining activities, unregulated grazing, forest fires and food scarcity are the major reasons for rising man-elephant conflicts in Jharkhand. PTI SAN RG