What didn't the people of Bahundangi do to avoid the pain caused by the elephant? Beehives were kept at home, believing that elephants would not come when keeping bees. Hang a rope and sprinkle chili powder on the rope. Worked up to digging tunnels. However, none of the efforts were successful.
Last Tuesday morning. It was 2 o'clock in the night. A herd of wild elephants entered Shanti Tol in Mechinagar-4 Bahundangi. Since it was early morning, everyone in the village was probably asleep, most of them did not know. The elephants, which entered the village in the number of 20, ate the corn that was ready to be broken by half a dozen families. Sotara was made by cutting corn plants. There was no one to look at the corn crop, nor was there any corn worth breaking.
38-year-old Sita Sunar of Shanti Tol was cultivating Andhia corn on about 10 kattas of land. This time, the corn grew well. ``We brought 400 rupees worth of seeds and planted them so that the corn would grow well,'' she told us when she was applying fertilizer to the betel plant, but the elephants ate all the corn that was ready to break and turned it into a mess. Because the herd of elephants trampled them, even the grass could not be fed.'
The herd of elephants that came that night did not destroy only Sita's corn. Chaturman Sunar, Surya Bahadur Sunar, Jeevan Pandey of Shanti Tol also made corns ready to be broken deserted . The land on which Sita planted corn is not hers . The land owner is in India, he cultivated Andhia .
It is also known that Sita gets relief after the wild elephant damages her crops. However, when applying for relief, documents such as ownership of the land and citizenship are required. He has citizenship, but how can he be wealthy, because the landowners are not here . "It takes more than 6 months to get relief," she says.
That night, the wild elephant ate not only Sita's one-time crop . His hard work throughout the year, the food he eats throughout the year and his family's livelihood also ate . Besides, this problem of wild elephants is not new for Bahundangi. Bahundangi and wild elephant are synonymous with each other . However, the problems faced by the local people in recent times are different.
Bahundangi doesn't have only one or two elephants like before. A herd of 50-60 comes. Earlier elephants used to come, nowadays elephants with camouflage also come . Wherever the herd enters, the crops are destroyed. Nothing is left in the farmer's field to be picked.
The herd of elephants that entered Shanti Toll on Tuesday morning ate about 40 maunds of corn here alone, and the corn plants were also cut down. Villagers had no option but to try to drive away the elephants. The elephant ran, the road went. In the morning, when I looked at the fields, there were no ears of corn, nor grass that could be fed.
Similarly, on Friday morning night, about 45 wild elephants entered Bahundangi after crossing Mechi. Nepal Police, Armed Police and other security personnel are stationed in Mechi Bagar and tried to drive the elephants entering Nepal towards India, but recently, that effort has not been successful . The same thing happened on Friday morning.
The trunk of the elephant entered the betel plantation of Yuvraj Pokharel of Bahundangi at one o'clock in the night . A herd of elephants entered the garden where about 600 betel nut trees were planted on one bigha of land. The herd broke more than 400 betel trees that were blooming, so that they did not wake up again .
'The herd of elephants that entered the betel nut plantation at half past one o'clock came out only at around 3 o'clock in the morning . There was a corn crop on the bottom, people didn't let it go . There is a police station on the east side, from there the siren sounded . On the north side, people also carved . There was no place for the elephant to go," said Yuvraj's brother Divyaraj Pokhrel, showing the broken betel nut plant. Hundreds of betel nut trees were broken.'
The herd of elephants that came to Bahundangi from Mechi don't just eat food crops. Sometimes the house is destroyed, the betel nut plant is broken . A herd of elephants with children does a lot of damage. However, the people of Bahundangi have no choice but to try to play sirens, drive away elephants, etc. In the morning, a herd of elephants comes to Mechi . But, the same again the next day!
What didn't the people of Bahundangi try to avoid the suffering caused by wild elephants? Beehives were kept at home, thinking that the elephants would not come to the village while keeping bees. Stringing a rope around the crops and putting chili powder on the rope. By doing this, the elephant would not enter the crops. Hundreds of elephant trees were also planted to prevent elephants from entering the crops when elephant trees were planted. This is Bahundangi, where the tunnels were dug to avoid the damage of the elephants. However, none of these efforts were successful.
Finally, it has been decades since Bahundangi has been able to get rid of the elephant problem. Instead, more and more pain is being added here . Neelkanth Tiwari, a local who has known about the damage caused by elephants in Bahundangi for years, says that the only way to stop the elephants coming from India is successful. That is solar fencing installed on the border . The year when solar fencing was installed, elephant terror was reduced by 98 percent. Elephants didn't come by boat. Elephants used to damage the fences here," he says, "but, over time, the solar fencing got worse. According to him, most of the structures of solar fencing have been damaged. Some items are missing . He says that if it is repaired and made fit, the loss of elephants can be avoided. "Organizations working in the field of wildlife including cities, provinces, and centers should show serious interest in this regard." There is also a discussion on this issue in the city. "If solar fencing is kept tight by drawing attention in time, elephant terror would be reduced," he says.
It's been a long time since the elephant herd started coming to Mechi. They have only one demand. That is, the wild elephants coming from India should be stopped.
Even on Monday afternoon (today), a herd of wild elephants entered Mechinagar-2. Because of this, the local citizens are worried. More than 20 wild elephants are roaming on Magar Danda located in Mechinagar-2 since morning. Prabin Chapagai, a local, informed that the elephant is roaming in tea gardens, Bansghari and other places.
Agni Prasad Adhikari, Chief Administrative Officer of Mechinagar Municipality, says that discussions are going on in the city many times to reduce the problem. According to him, not only in the city, but also in the presence of the district administration office, security forces, etc., preparations are being made to hold a comprehensive discussion about elephant damage reduction.
discussion alone will not reduce the suffering of the elephant! What is the city's plan for repairing the dilapidated solar fencing? In response to the question, he says, "If there is no initiative from any of the above bodies for solar fencing, and the source of funds is not assured, there is also a discussion going on in the city about what to do." The city allocates some necessary budget for maintenance.
Chief of Division Forest Office, Jhapa, Bharat Babu Shrestha says that 956,000 budget has been allocated in the current financial year, and solar fencing is being repaired. If there were only elephants and fences here, there would be no problem. However, here the same wire used to pierce the elephant has been built to transport river materials. People who cross the border also pick up the wire . There are problems like this in the border,' he says, 'although solar fencing is suitable for stopping the herd of elephants and maintenance work is being done.'
