AP to Get ₹170 Crore For Resolving Human-Elephant Conflicts

Visakhapatnam: Andhra Pradesh is set to receive ₹169.98 crore over the next five years under a regional action plan aimed at tackling human-elephant conflict, as the state grapples with growing pressure from elephants moving through fragmented forests and agricultural landscapes.

The allocation, representing a 17 per cent share of the overall plan, follows a conflict‑risk assessment conducted by the Project Elephant Division of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Wildlife Institute of India.

The Project Elephant report, released in Visakhapatnam by Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan on World Elephant Day, outlines strategies to strengthen monitoring, improve coordination, and reduce casualties among both people and elephants.

It proposes a total outlay of ₹999.87 crore for Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, with ₹500 crore as central assistance. Karnataka accounts for the largest share of 38 per cent, followed by Tamil Nadu 25 per cent, Kerala 20 per cent and Andhra Pradesh 17 per cent.

AP is described as a relatively new elephant range, with animals believed to have returned from the Hosur-Dharmapuri forests in the 1980s. Since then, populations have grown steadily, rising from 65 in 2017 to 142 in 2023, with the majority concentrated in Chittoor, Tirupati, and Annamayya districts, and smaller groups in Srikakulam and Parvathipuram Manyam.

The Koundinya Wildlife Sanctuary and adjoining forests are critical elephant habitats. But pressures from agriculture, cattle grazing, and fuel-wood collection have intensified human–elephant interactions. Casualties have been recorded on both sides. Four human deaths were recorded in 2019-20, six in 2020-21, none in 2021-22, five in 2022-23 and six in 2023-24. Elephant deaths during the same period ranged from four to 10 annually, with electrocution by live‑wire fences identified as a major cause.

Further, crude explosive devices used against wild pigs and expanding infrastructure projects, such as NH‑716, the Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway, and railway doubling in Tirupati, have further fragmented habitats and increased the risk for elephants.

The report recommends incorporating wildlife passages through highways and railways to safeguard elephant movement routes.

Andhra Pradesh has begun strengthening its response through an Elephant Task Force, the Gaja Praja mobile application for reporting movements and compensation claims, and WhatsApp groups for local alerts. The state has constructed 735 km of elephant‑proof trenches and installed solar fencing, though maintenance issues and encroachments have reduced their effectiveness.

The plan calls for closer coordination between the Forest Department and agencies, including Electricity, Railways, Police, Revenue, and NHAI, as well as partnerships with farmers, local communities, NGOs, and researchers. It has suggested interstate cooperation with Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu that will share information on elephant movements and management practices.

For AP, where elephant populations and conflict are relatively recent, the report stresses the importance of stronger monitoring, early‑warning systems, rapid-response teams, and the protection of functional corridors. The proposed funding is intended not only to address individual incidents but to build a coordinated framework for managing elephants and people across the landscape.