THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Daltonganj, Nov 11: Jharkhand state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) K Ravi Kumar has taken note of the incidents ahead of the November 13 polling where wildlife like bears and blue bull (nilgai) have caused multiple injuries to people, the prospective voters.
Measures to protect voters and polling parties
The Jharkhand Story correspondent today spoke to the CEO of Jharkhand K Ravi Kumar to know how voters, polling parties, sector officers, health officials and cops, who are to conduct polling at booths which are either in the jungle or on the fringe of it and where the wildlife ventures out, be kept at bay from any collision or confrontations with the wildlife.
K Ravi Kumar said, “I will speak about this to the respective district election officers to find out the pre-emptive measures to be put in place for the safety of all the stakeholders ahead of the polling or on the day of polling.”
“I know the district election officer and forest officials of Simdega have taken measures to contain this ‘haathi bhalu’ (elephant, bear) menace,” added K Ravi Kumar.
The CEO further said, “I would like to speak to the head of the forest force in this regard.”
Forest authorities aware of the danger
When contacted, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) and Chief Wildlife Warden Satyajit Singh said, “I will speak to my officers to know as to how they are going about this voter and wildlife issue.”
“Let it be kept in mind that humans have gone too deep into the domain of the wildlife. Their space has been encroached upon. Their passage or route has been overtaken,” reminded Satyajit Singh.
Recent wildlife attacks highlight risks
Quite recently a bear hurt a tribal voter identified as Dhyan Singh at Bijka under the Kutku forest range falling in the Garhwa south division.
The tribal has grade 3 bites and is undergoing treatment in the MMCH Daltonganj, informed the medical superintendent Dr Dharmendra Kumar.
Bijka village has three polling stations where polling parties are to be air-dropped.
The bear attack on the tribal voter Dhyan Singh of Bijka village may come as a brake to the overwhelming voting at three booths here at Bijka.
Only on Sunday, November 10, an adult nilgai hurt around half a dozen passengers of an autorickshaw when this nilgai collided with the speedy autorickshaw at Saguna More under the Paton police station limits en route to Daltonganj.
According to the medical superintendent of the MMCH Daltonganj Dr Dharmendra Kumar, two of the nilgai-hurt passengers having severe head injuries were rushed to the higher centre in Ranchi on Sunday itself.
Dr Dharmendra Kumar said three other injured including a 35-year-old woman and 18-year-old girl are being treated at the MMCH Daltonganj where their condition is stable.
Elephants and bears pose threats in polling areas
Elephants are all around from Garhwa to Latehar. The Palamu Tiger Reserve (PTR) alone has around 250 elephants.
Bears are also in good numbers from Garhwa district to Latehar and these bears have a notoriety to make ambush on unsuspecting or unguarded people.
In that comparison, barring the 2023 aggression when a lone leopard had killed three humans, wolves and hyenas are not the great enemies of the lives of the humans.
