By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, December 13, 2015 : The elephant-man conflict in Odisha continues to rise with 354 people killed and 161 injured by the tuskers in the last five years.

Crops over 64,000 acres were damaged during this period and the government has spent Rs 46 crore as compensation, according to the state forest and environment minister, Bkram keshari Arukh.

Replying to a question by legislators, Dilip Ray and Dr Bibhutibhusan Harichandan, the minister told the Assembly the number of casualties on the elephant side in this conflict has also been on rise.

Out of the 402 elephant death recorded in past five years, 89 elephants died a natural death, 50 of them were hunted, 64 died of electric shock, 14 died of train accidents, 37 died of fights among themselves or slipping from mountains and another 61 for reasons Forest Department couldn’t identify.

As per the 2015 elephant census, the elephant population has gone up to 1954 from 1930. Similarly, the death rate of elephants has also gone up compared to previous years.

The minister’s statement goes on to record 500 human deaths or injuries caused by elephant attack at various places of the state besides the killing of 32 domestic animals.

Experts blame the high rate of animal deaths and increasing man-elephant conflict on the fast loss of habitat of the animals. Rapid industrialization and mining in elephant corridors is the other major reason for recurring instances of such conflict.

With the objective of facilitating free movement of animals from one jungle to another and bring down the chances of conflict the man, the government has identified 14 corridors in the state. But far from coming down, instances of such conflict have actually increased.

The government has identified eight elephant corridors between 2005-2006 and another six between 2009-10 to manage and develop these corridors at a cost of Rs 5 crore a year.