DIGBOI (ASSAM), JAN 15: Narayan Bhumij is five years old, but he wants to own a gun, preferably an AK-47. No, he is not hoping to join the ULFA when he grows up. He just wants to protect himself and his little sister, Rupa, against what are proving to be their worst enemy and certain death: Elephants.In villages in and around Digboi - the historic township which has the world's oldest running oil refinery - herds of wild pachyderms are wreaking havoc on villagers. More than 20 people have been trampled to death in the upper Assam districts alone this winter. At No. 1 Asomiya Gaon - 12 km from Digboi - five persons were killed three weeks ago. And in the entire state, at least 1,000 people have lost their lives at the hands of wild elephants since 1981, according to official records.Narayan was a witness to the Asomiya Gaon killings. He was sleeping at the time when his friend Budhuea Kanwar (also five years old), two-year-old Majhi and three others were crushed to death by elephants. ``We were inbed,'' recalls Deepak Majhi, an unemployed youth of the village. ``It was about 3 am. We heard some people cry out. We rushed out, only to see our village surrounded by a large number of elephants. It was like a raid.''But living under the constant threat of such a death is increasingly becoming a way of life for the hundreds of villagers in the area, most of whom are ex-tea labourers. The tuskers are not much to blame either. In name, they live in ``reserved'' forests surrounding these villages. However, as Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Digboi, T Suryanarayana says: ``Their habitat is shrinking, as also their food.'' He admits that wild elephants straying out from forests has become a major problem for them.And even as forest officials try to tackle it, desperate animals are even streaming in from neighbouring states like Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland where destruction of forests is rampant. Suryanarayana admits elephants are coming from Arunachal Pradesh and that ``one herd is also believed tohave sneaked in from Myanmar, located beyond Arunachal.''R N Sonowal, the DFO of Doomdooma, near Digboi, feels the elephants are attracted by the paddy and oranges that the villagers grow. Elephants are believed to relish oranges and ripe paddy. Sonawal points out that many villagers have gradually given up cultivating these two crops, admitting: ``We are unable to provide them round-the-clock security.''Tinsukia District Magistrate Hemanta Narzary recently held discussions with forest officials, the police, the affected people and the tea planters, after which several policemen were deputed to assist the forest guards. An official in the district administration says tea companies have also been asked to help.``Some tea gardens have dug deep and wide drains along their plantation boundaries. Electric fences are also under consideration,'' says N L Ganguly, senior manager, Dirok Tea Estate, owned by Williamson & Magor Group.However, these measures may not prove enough. Back in Guwahati, AssamForest Minister Nagen Sharma regrets that the Centre is yet to permit catching of wild elephants, an issue which has been pending for several years now. Their number in the state is now upto 5,500.But then, elephants and Assam go back years, and the two have co-existed peacefully for most of that period. About 120 years ago, an elephant employed by the Assam Railway & Trading Company to carry railway tracks had returned from a pool of water somewhere near here with stains of sticky crude oil on its feet. That was the day Assam's oil fortune was born.
