‘Drunk forest staff’ comment turns out to be false

Shillong, Feb 2: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma had on January 24 admonished Nongstoin Range Officer during the CM-Connect event in Ranikor for sending drunk staff to address the man-elephant conflict following a complaint from a woman. However, a few days later, the woman conveyed that it was a hearsay that forest staff attend to duty after getting drunk.
The headman and the secretary of Mawpyllun village had also sent a letter to the Range Forest Officer stating that they had not come across any drunk forest staff while carrying out duty.
According to an official source, Gioti D Sangma from Mawpyllun raised the issue of man-elephant conflict during the CM-Connect Programme in Ranikor.
After the event, Range Forest Officer, Nongstoin (Wildlife) Range met Gioti Sangma and the headman of Mawpyllun village.
While discussing regarding her allegations of staff being drunk on duty, the woman said she had neither seen nor experienced such kind of incident. But due to pressure from public, she told whatever she heard earlier.
The headman of Mawpyllun has been in touch with the staff of Khasi Hills Wildlife Division. The forest staff had jointly worked with village authorities on many occasions. The headman has extended cooperation and support to field staff and added that he has never seen any of the field staff drunk during duty.
Currently, elephants are present in forest area around Mawpyllun. But they have not caused any major damage except breaking of pipelines and destroying crops, the official said.
Human-Elephant conflict:
During the last five years from 2020-21 to 2024-25, the state has witnessed 1,782 cases of human-elephant conflict.
Ex-gratia was provided to the families of the affected victims.
According to the officials, the government is taking several measures to minimise and mitigate the damage due to human-animal conflicts. These measures include improvement of the wildlife habitats, payment of ex-gratia to victims of man-animal conflicts, identification and delineation of man-animal conflict hotspots by using man-animal conflict data of previous years. Voluntary village protection squads have also been placed at identified hotspots in different districts. Total number of voluntary village protection squads is 150.