The aim of the app is to build a bridge between government departments and the public.
Guwahati: A Non-governmental organization based in Guwahati, has launched a mobile application aimed at reducing human-elephant conflicts in Assam and surrounding states. The mobile application, HaatiApp was launched on Saturday by NGO Aranayak and inaugurated by Cabinet Minister for Energy, Sports and Youth Welfare Nandita Gorlosa.
Gorlosa expressed her support to the state government and said the app would help various stakeholders in curbing human-elephant conflicts (HEC) for the benefit of living together.
Bibhuti P Lahkar, head of the Elephant Research and Conservation Department (ERCD), stated that the application will bridge the gap between the government agencies and the people. According to HT report, he said, “We need to popularize this app. Once people download it, they can quickly alert the forest department if they see elephants nearby. This will keep everyone updated and enable officials to respond quickly.”
During an event in Guwahati, the minister launched the HaatiApp as well as a solar fence manual in Assamese. Noted animal rights activist Padma Shri Parbati Baruah and renowned elephant doctor Padma Shri Kushal Konwar Sharma praised these efforts.
Baruah highlighted the challenges facing Asian elephants in northeast India, especially as their habitat shrinks due to the expansion of human settlements. “We need to learn to coexist. The HaatiApp and the solar fencing manual are valuable tools to achieve this,” she noted.
Sharma raised concerns over the illegal use of electricity to keep elephants away, which poses a serious threat to both humans and the elephants. He urged the state power minister to take action to prevent the tragic electrocution of wild elephants. Minister Garlosa assured that the state power department will launch an awareness campaign at the local level to address this issue and prevent further incidents of illegal electricity connections.
“Common people in some of the HEC hotspots, out of fear, use illegal electricity connections to protect wild elephants, which sometimes leads to the death of the elephants… Using these two techniques, we can reduce such incidents,” she said.
Garlosa further said that the state power department will take steps to reach out to the people in the HEC affected areas and educate them against the use of such illegal power connections against wild elephants.
Human-wildlife conflict has increased in recent years. According to the Government of Assam, illegal use of forest areas is one of the main reasons for the conflict.
However, in several cases, victims claimed that they had tried to maintain coexistence, but elephants had attacked their homes in search of food. They said there was no way to prevent this other than using electricity.
