Bhubaneswar, (Samajweekly) At least 925 people have died of elephant attacks in Odisha between 2012-13 and 2021-22, state minister for forest, environment and climate change, Pradip Amat told the Assembly on Tuesday.
While replying to a query of BJP member Lalitendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra, the forest minister said 925 people have been killed and 212 became physically-disabled in elephant attacks in Odisha during the last 10 years.
The number of human casualties increased from 80 in 2012-13 to 105 in 2017-18 and 112 in 2021-22.
Highest 139 persons died of jumbo attacks in the year 2020-21, while 117 people got killed in such incidents in 2019-20 and 112 during 2021-22.
Similarly, the number of persons, who became permanently disabled in elephant attacks, has also gone up from five in 2012-13 to 51 in 2021-22 in the state.
Not only human lives were lost due to elephant attacks, the state has also reported the death of 784 elephants in the past 10 years.
While 82 jumbos died in 2012-13, the figure was 86 in 2015-16, 93 in 2018-19 and 86 in 2021-22.
During the period, the Odisha government has conducted investigations into 39 elephant death incidents and charge sheets against 50 people were filed. However, not a single accused has been convicted in these cases, so far, informed Amat in his reply.
In another written statement, the Odisha forest minister has said that 11 wild elephants were killed by poachers during 2022-23.
According to the last elephant census conducted in 2017, there are 1,976 elephants in Odisha.
