Lok Sabha Question No. 1338 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-11
Subject: Death of Elephants due to Electrocution
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: D. Ravikumar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 1338 TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.12.2023

## Death of Elephants due to Electrocution

## 1338.   SHRI RAVIKUMAR D.:

Will  the  Minister  of  ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTAND  CLIMATE  CHANGE  be  pleased  to state:

- (a) whether it is true that 82 elephants died in 2021-22 due to unnatural reasons, out of which 57 elephants died due to electrocution;
- (b) if so, the steps taken by the Government in this regard;
- (c) whether the Government has collaborated with relevant authorities, like electricity boards and wildlife conservation agencies, to develop guidelines and protocols to mitigate the risk of electrocution of elephants;
- (d) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (e) whether  any  progress  has  made  in  raising  awareness  among  local  communities  and stakeholders  about  the  importance  of  elephant  conservation  and  the  need  to  prevent incidents of electrocution and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and
- (f) whether any financial allocations have been made by the Government to address this issue?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

- (a)to(f) As per the information received from States, the number of elephant deaths in the year 2021-22 due to various reasons are given below:

| Year                  | 2021-22         | 2021-22       | 2021-22   | 2021-22   |
|-----------------------|-----------------|---------------|-----------|-----------|
| Reasons of death      | Train Accidents | Electrocution | Poaching  | Poisoning |
| No. of elephant death | 15              | 57            | 4         | 6         |
| Total elephant death  | 82              | 82            | 82        | 82        |

The management of wildlife including mitigation and management of human-elephant conflict (HEC) is primarily the responsibility of State Governments/UTs Administration.    The  state  forest  departments  are  working  with  the  local  people  to address the HEC issues through periodic awareness campaigns to sensitize, guide and advise the general public on man-animal conflict, including dissemination of information  through  various  forms  of  media.    Further,  Forest  Departments  are engaging  with  local  communities  as  animal  trackers  to  monitor  the  movement  of elephants  and  also  to  caution  local  people  to  avoid  human-animal  conflict,  prevent damage or loss of human life and elephants.

In addition, the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change in collaboration of Ministry  of  Railways  and  Ministry  of  Power  has  taken  following  measures  to minimize accidental deaths of elephant:-

- (i) The Ministry provides financial and technical assistance to States/UTs under the Centrally  Sponsored  Schemes  'Project  Tiger  &  Elephant'  for  protection  and conservation of species and their habitats in the country.
- (ii) Advisory  on  implementation  of  measures  to  mitigate  the  impact  of  power transmission lines and other power infrastructure on elephant  and other wildlife issued by Ministry of Power to all DISCOMs and TRANSCOs has been circulated to all States/UTS on 16 th September, 2022.
- (iii) Inter-ministerial  meeting  convened  regularly  with  the  Ministry  of  Railways  and Ministry of Power to holistically address the issue of accidental death of elephant due to train hit and electrocution.
- (iv) A permanent Co-ordination Committee has been constituted between Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for preventing elephant death in train accident.
- (v) The  Wildlife  Institute  of  India,  Dehradun  in  consultation  with  the  Ministry  of Environment Forest, and Climate Change, National Highway Authority, National Tiger Conservation Authority and World Bank Group has published a document namely  'Eco-friendly  Measures  to  Mitigate  Impacts  of  Linear  Infrastructure'  to assist project agencies in designing linear infrastructure, including railways lines, in a manner that reduces human-animal conflicts.
- (vi) A guideline for Management of Human Elephant Conflict has been issued by the Ministry  on  6.10.2017  and  elephant  range  states have  been  requested  for implementation of the same.
- (vii) A general advisory has been issued jointly by Ministry of Railways and Ministry of  Environment  and  Forests  on  30th  March,  2010  to  the  General  Managers  of North  Frontier  (NF), East Cost  and  Southern  Railways  with  a  request  to implement the suggested measures.
- (viii) To  reduce  man-elephant  conflict  and  to  avoid  retaliatory  killing  of  elephants. Compensation is provided to local communities for loss of their property and life caused  by  wild  elephants.  The  Ministry  has  notified  enhancement  of  ex-gratia
- rates related to wildlife depredation vide letter No. 14-2/2011 WL-I (part) dated 9th February, 2018.
- (ix) The Ministry had constituted a committee to review the deaths of elephants due to train  hit  in  the  Tamil  Nadu  and  Kerala  states  in  compliance  of  Hon'ble  NGT direction dated 8 th July, 2021. The Committee submitted its report to the Ministry in September 2021 suggesting recommendations to be taken up by Railways, State Forest  Departments  (SFDs)  of  Tamil  Nadu  and  Kerala  to  prevent  death  of elephants  due  to  train  hits.  The  report  submitted  by  the  committee  has  been circulated  to  the  SFDs,  Railways  and  other  concerned  stakeholders  to  take appropriate measures to prevent death of elephants due to train hits.
- (x) The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, in coordination with the State Forest Departments, have ground-validated 150 elephant corridors across 15  elephant  range  states  in  India  and  informed  the  State  Governments/UT Administrations  to  take  necessary  steps  to  protect  and  conserve  the  elephant corridors.
- (xi) A  field  manual  for  frontline  staff  to  manage  Human  Elephant  Conflict  was released during the 16th meeting of the Steering Committee on 29th April, 2022.
- (xii) Imposition of permanent and temporary speed restrictions in identified  elephant corridors and habitats.
- (xiii) A pilot project on 'Intelligent elephant movement detection and alert system' to detect movement of elephants approaching railway tracks through seismic sensors has been initiated in Rajaji Tiger Reserve.
- (xiv) Ministry  also  released  a  Guidelines  for  Human-Elephant  Conflict  MitigationTaking  a  Harmonious  Coexistence  Approach  (2023)  for  addressing  humanelephant conflicts.
- (xv) Construction  of  underpasses  and  ramps  for  the  movement  of  elephants  at identified locations.
- (xvi) Capacity  Building Workshops for different stakeholders were organized time to time  to  sensitize  them  on  matter  related  to  minimization  of  human  elephant conflict.

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