Jharkhand, which has ranked among the highest in terms of human casualties during man-elephant conflicts, on Friday launched an elephant tracking app at an event to mark the 74th Van Mahotsava in Ranchi.

Using the app, villagers can view the precise location of an elephant or a herd. The elephant locations will be fed by the forest department field staff using their internal database. The app will also help police and district administrative officials keep track of elephant movement.

“Soon we will also integrate the alarm mechanism into the app wherein alarms will be sent through SMS and WhatsApp to the villagers as soon as the elephant enters within a 5km radius of their villages.

“The government has already started the tender process and the feature will be incorporated into the app within three months,” said a senior forest official associated with the development of the app.

Hemant Soren plants a sapling during the 74th Van Mahotsava at Ranchi on Friday. Manob Chowdhury

“This is needed to curb human casualties and damage to standing crops and property by the elephants. The forest department field staff will be conducting an awareness drive among villagers about the apps as suggested by the chief minister,” Jharkhand’s additional principal chief conservator of forests research and training D. K Saxena said.

According to forest records, on average 80 persons die in man-elephant conflicts while 150 persons suffer injuries per year in Jharkhand.

In its RTI reply to advocate Satya Prakash, the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate stated that 462 people have died in man-elephant conflicts in a span of five years since 2017 and 133 alone in the last fiscal.

Neighbouring Odisha lost 499 people, while Assam and Bengal recorded 385 and 358 casualties, respectively, during the five-year period.

While launching the app, Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren admitted that humans had intruded into the elephant corridor, resulting in an increase in man-elephant conflicts in recent years.

The chief minister also mentioned a toll-free number 18008892633 of the state forest department to lodge complaints.

“I had suggested to the forest department to create a toll-free number through which people can lodge complaints 24x7 about illegal mining and deforestation. I am happy that the forest department has already worked on it and I am told that thousands of complaints have been registered and action taken by the department on those complaints,” he said.

The chief minister also launched a new forest department website, a national transit pass system and a booklet on activities carried out by the forest department in Ramgarh and Jamtara districts on climate change adaptations. Through the transit pass system, one can procure a permit to transport forest products through different states without any hassles at the border areas.

Soren also announced that the forest department had set a target of planting 2.34 crore trees between July and the middle of August this year to increase the forest cover.

“The government is also running Birsa Harit (green) Gram Yojana on 50,000 acres of land in the state. We are providing 75 per cent grant for planting trees under the Mukhyamantri Vandhan Yojana,” said Soren.

Jharkhand’s principal chief conservator of forest Sanjay Srivastava appealed to the masses to plant trees on special family occasions.