By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, March 17, 2015 :

Odisha is no longer a safe place for elephants. As many as 685 elephants have died in the last 10 years due to various reasons.

During the same period 660 people had succumbed to attacks by the wild elephants and 272 injured, according to environment minister Bikram Arukh.

Replying to a question by BJP MLA Dilip Ray in the Assembly, Arukh said, 87403 acre of cultivated land was destroyed by elephant since 2004. During the same period, 2479 houses were damaged  while 5545 houses have been partially destroyed and 66 domestic animals killed by the elephants.

The minister admitted that since the year 2004-5, 89 tuskers were killed by the hunters and 14 by poisoning. As many as 18 pachyderms have died due to rail accidents while 50 have been intentionally electrocuted.

The minister said the state government had identified 14 elephant corridors in the state and taken up a five-year comprehensive project for their development in an effort to reduce man-animal conflict.

The state government has planned a Rs 45.79-crore project by the end of 2016-17. The places proposed to be declared as elephant corridors are Similipal- Badampahar, Badampahar-Karida, Hadgada-Kulad, Telkoi-Pallahara, Deuli-Suliapada, Karei-Karampada, Kanheijena-Anantpur, Maulaganj-Jindimal-Anantpur, Buguda-Nayagarh, Nuagaon-Baruni, Barpahar-Tarabha-Kantamal, Tala-Kholagarh, Kotagarh-Chandrapur and Karlapat-Bharladani.

The corridors would provide better habitats for the pachyderms with adequate water bodies, food availability and security.

The corridors would be spread over 870 sq km and will be 420.8 km long. It would include three inter-state corridors with West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, he added.