Jhapa folks still in wild elephant terror
A total of 53 people, including 48 Nepalis and five others have died in an elephant attack in the Jhapa district so far.
JHAPA: People of the east and north part of the Jhapa district are still living in terror of wild elephants.
Although the government, with the support of the World Bank, has installed an electric fences at the entry points in order to control the entry of wild elephants from India, their entry into Nepal has not stopped.
A total of 53 people, including 48 Nepalis and five others have died in an elephant attack in the Jhapa district so far, said Jeevan Pathak, the Acting Chief at the Division Forest Office.
Similarly, 15 elephants have died in the district so far, he added. A total of six people have lost their lives to elephant attacks in the fiscal year 2021/22. One elephant at Arjundhara and two at Buddhashanti were found dead. Eight people were injured in the elephant attack.
As per the Wildlife Damage Relief Guidelines -2069 BS (second amendment 2074), there is a provision to provide one million rupees compensation if the elephant kills a general person except for community forest and division forest staff out of the jungle area.
The government has to bear all treatment expenses of the injured. An Act has made a provision of providing Rs 10,000 to Rs 30,000 compensation to the family if an elephant destroys their house, damage crops and food grains. But the victim’s family has to file an application within 35 days to get the compensation.
Similarly, a total Rs 11.072 million was provided in compensation to 485 people including families of the six deceased in the fiscal year 2021/22, shared Pathak.
He further said that 377 applications have been filed in the current fiscal year and the applications are in the implementation process.
