The AIR alerts/bulletins have been started following a workshop on human-animal conflicts held at the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BTR) towards the end of December 2024, and efforts are now underway to make it a regular feature of Akashvani programs, not just in Shahdol, Umaria, and Anuppur districts, but also in other districts of eastern MP, including Sidhi, Singrauli, Satna, and Maihar.These areas, located close to the elephant migration routes from neighbouring Chhattisgarh, are often affected by elephant movements. “The AIR-Ambikapur, along with the radio service in Raipur, Raigarh, and Bilaspur, has been successfully broadcasting special bulletins/alerts about jumbo herd movements in Chhattisgarh for many years. Now, we’re in the process of replicating the same service in MP to alert villagers, not just about elephant movements, but also tigers and leopards. A formal agreement with the state forest department in Shahdol to make the service a routine feature is in the offing,” said Avinash Diwakar, programming head of AIR-Shahdol, on Sunday. Importantly, during his posting in Chhattisgarh in the past, Diwakar was associated with similar programs (bulletins and alerts) there. According to the chief conservator of forests (CCF) of Shahdol Circle, Ajay Kumar Pandey, “Though the initiative is new, it will start delivering results on the ground once it becomes a formal daily feature in the near future. We already have WhatsApp groups at the range and village levels, where all stakeholders of various departments and villages, including the Hathi Mitras, are already being alerted about elephant and other wild animal movements. But the AIR-Shahdol initiative will go a long way in delivering the desired results, as it’s still one of the strongest mass media mediums, even in the remotest villages.” Importantly, the elephants and their habitat management plan formulation has been necessitated by the death of ten elephants in the jungles of BTR in October-November 2024, followed by the death of two villagers from an elephant herd in Umaria district in November 2024. Further, in the same month, another elephant, possibly strayed from its herd, died after coming into contact with a very low-hanging wireline in the Maihar district of eastern MP. Forest officials from eastern MP (areas where elephant movements are prevalent) have visited Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Chhattisgarh to study the best practices of those states in successfully managing wild elephant herds and habitats, besides minimizing elephant-human conflicts and casualties. It was the meeting in Chhattisgarh in December that laid the groundwork for the Akashvani alerts/bulletins. Next in line could be a dedicated app, similar to Chhattisgarh’s, which will further help the state forest department in meticulously monitoring elephant movements and timely alerting villagers. “Currently, there are around 100 elephants moving in various jungles of eastern MP, including around 60 in BTR (which has become their home since 2018), around 20 in the Sanjay Tiger Reserve, an 18-strong herd in the Beohari forest area of Shahdol district, and 2-3 tuskers in Anuppur district,” a state forest department official said.
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