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Shillong, April 15 : Polling officials in Meghalaya’s Garo hills are gearing up for an armed resistance against elephants, which pose a greater threat to elections in the area than militants.
The returning officer for Tura parliamentary constituency has formed five teams of forest personnel to ensure that elephants do not mar the smooth conduct of elections in Garo hills, which has 19 elephant-sensitive polling booths.
The move comes on the heels of villagers spotting movement of wild elephants in parts of Garo hills since Sunday.
“Elephants have been moving in and around three villages — Naguapara, Belguri and Doldonga — since Sunday and we have drawn up emergency plans for the smooth conduct of polls on Thursday,” said Frederick Kharkongor, the West Garo Hills deputy commissioner who is also the returning officer for Tura.
According to reports, the elephants have destroyed crops and damaged the forest area in the three villages.
Kharkongor said the formation of the five teams of forest personnel armed with guns, tranquillisers and fire crackers would help to drive away the wild elephants if they create any trouble during the Lok Sabha polls.
Each of the five teams will comprise six forest personnel, two foresters and four forest guards. They will be stationed at Tura in West Garo Hills and four other vulnerable areas in East Garo Hills and South Garo Hills.
“I have also asked the superintendent of police of West Garo Hills to provide a police team to assist the forest personnel in case of an emergency,” Kharkongor said.
“Nineteen polling stations in Garo hills have been declared sensitive and vulnerable because of the elephant menace,” he added.
There are three elephant-sensitive polling stations in Dalu Assembly constituency, five in Salmanpara, three in Ampati, four in Selsella, three in Dadenggri and one in Raksamgre Assembly seat.
Kharkongor admitted that the district administration was more worried about the threat from wild elephants than from militants for elections.
“There are no active local militant groups in Garo hills and the other militant groups from the Northeast only use the Garo hills corridor to cross over either to Assam or to Bangladesh. Our worry is the havoc which can be created by the wild elephants,” Kharkongor said.
The returning officer met zonal polling officers and sector magistrates last evening to discuss the need to stay in constant touch with forest officials in case of an emergency.
“We have instructed the presiding officers to light fires in case they notice the movement of wild elephants near any of the polling stations. The forest personnel have also been provided with mobile phones for communication,” he added.