LUCKNOW, 27 MAY: The caste census may have been too controversial to handle but the elephant census in Uttar Pradesh is all done and dusted. And whilst Miss Mayawati can take some credit for lending her voice to the demand that caste be included in the enumeration of the human population which has forced the Union Cabinet to ask an empowered Group of Ministers to look into the issue, her supporters are now also singing her praises for focussing attention on a precious part of India's wildlife heritage; that the elephant is also the BSP's election symbol is neither here nor there.
The elephant census, the first-ever such exercise in a state usually in the news for elephantine proportions of corruption and criminality, was completed on 20 May in the recently created reserve for pachyderms in UP.
While the final countdown report is expected to be out within a fortnight, this census assumes importance as it will constitute the baseline for fixing the population of tuskers in UP. This baseline will determine any future increase or decrease in their population.
The undivided UP had a substantial population of elephants. The animals used to roam around in the forest areas situated in the Shivalik foothills of Dehra Dun, Saharanpur and Hardwar districts. Their main habitat was the Rajaji National Park.
There was an elephant corridor ~ stretching from the Rajaji National Park to the Chilla Wildlife sanctuary in Hardwar ~ through which the tuskers entered Nepal.
Following the creation of Uttrakhand and the transfer of the Rajaji National Park to the Hill state, the elephants in UP became confined to the Shivalik forest division in Saharanpur district and the forest areas of Bijnore districts. Elephants can also be found in the Dudhwa National Park.
It was to conserve this pachyderm population of UP that the state government declared a "Uttar Pradesh Elephant Reserve" encompassing an area of 744.096 sq kilometers in the Saharanpur and Bijnore districts. A notification number 1496(1)/14-4-2009-802/2004 was issued on 9 September, 2009.
The elephant reserve comprises Mohand, Shakumbari and Barkala ranges in the Shivalik forest devision of Saharanpur district and Amangarh, Kauria, Sahanpur, Rajgarh, Barahapur and Sahuwala of the social forestry division and the Bijnore forest division of Bijnore district.
The elephant reserve has been set up following the approval given by the Government of India. The intention was to conserve the elephant population by giving more attention to them in their natural habitat. "Asiatic elephants are a vulnerable lot as they are much in demand for their tusks and poaching is not unheard off in these areas. Hence the need to give them protection," said an official of the UP forest department. The training of the forest staff for undertaking the census began on 13 May. Around 50-60 people were given training on the methodology to be adopted for carrying out the head count observers were also appointed to monitor the progress. The resource people roped in for the task were from the Wildlife Institute of India and the Wildlife Trust of India. The census in Saharanpur and Bijnore took place on 19 and 20 May. A similar exercise was carried out in the Dudhwa park. The elephants were sighted at only two places in the Dudhwa range. This was largely on account of the fact that the park has a migratory population of pachyderms.
