ITAHARI, Jan 3: The government has set aside Rs 5 million to tackle the elephant menace in the settlements near the Koshi Tappu wildlife Reserve.
The fund has been set aside to construct electric fences around the settlements to prevent wild elephants.
Electric wire fence set up to prevent elephant attacks kills tw...
Besides Sunsari district, settlements in Udayapur and Saptari districts that also lie around Koshi Tappu are severely affected. However, settlements in Sunsari are the most affected by wild elephants, which destroy crops and houses and sometimes kill humans.
Minister for Finance Gyanendra Bahadur Karki said the budget has been set aside to construct durable electric fence from Haripur of Sunsari to Prakashpur. Earlier, a 14.7 km long fence had been erected from Prakashpur to Shreepur. However, elephants uprooted a tree near the fence, which fell over the fence damaging it and allowing a passage to elephants to enter the settlements again.
Wild elephants enter settlements around Koshi Tappu almost on a daily basis. Locals said they stay up all night in fear. Chaos and fears have become a part of their daily life.
Just about a month ago, wild elephants killed four people near the reserve within a span of five days.
