Child dies in Ctg elephant attack amid vigilance team's absence over payment

A three-month-old infant died in an elephant attack, while his mother sustained critical injuries in Karnaphuli upazila of Chattogram early today. 

The deceased is Mohammad Arman Jawad. His mother, Khazima Begum, 30, is currently undergoing treatment at Chittagong Medical College Hospital.

The incident happened in the early hours of Saturday at Shahmirpur Jamadar Para area of Karnaphuli, reportedly amid the absence of an elephant vigilance team that would alert locals about the movement of stranded elephants in the Karnaphuli Export Processing Zone (KEPZ) area.

The 15-member Elephant Response Team (ERT) was trained and launched by the Forest Department in October last year following four deaths in reported elephant attacks in two months.

However, the ERT that would also coordinate with another local vigilance team, had stopped working following complications over their payment.

Dipannita Bhattacharjee, wildlife and biodiversity conservation officer of Chattogram, told The Business Standard that at the start of March, the KEPZ authorities suspended the duties of the 15-member team. 

She said when elephants entered the Shahmirpur Jamadar Para area in night, some locals set a nearby hill on fire, which spooked the elephants. "The enraged elephants later attacked a home, resulting in the infant's death."

Mohammad Shahjahan, managing director of KEPZ, said previously, the KEPZ authorities were requested by the environment, forest, and climate change adviser to pay 15 days' allowances for the team until the forest department receives funds, whereas they had paid allowances for three and a half months from their funds.

However, the ministry has been unable to arrange the funds for the last six months.

He said before stopping the payment, they also informed the divisional forest officer of the matter. 

Meanwhile, demanding the relocation of the elephants from the Karnaphuli area, the father of the deceased infant, Mohammad Ibrahim, along with hundreds of local residents, blocked the PAB Road around 7am and continued protesting until 11:30am today. 

They demanded a permanent solution to the elephant problem in the area.

The blockade caused severe traffic congestion on surrounding roads, affecting thousands of workers commuting to the nearby KEPZ.

According to experts, the wild elephants are originally from the Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary in Lohagara upazila, and have been living in the KEPZ area since 2019.

Calls from locals to relocate the stranded elephants have yielded no results so far.