Singhal said that havoc created by elephants mainly centered within the 1600 square km belt between the rivers Teesta and Torsha. This area alone registered around 26 lives.

In 1997, the government had to shell out Rs 35 lakh as compensation for crop losses caused due to trampling by the pachyderms. Singhal says, as a precautionary measure, he said, radio collars were fixed on nine wild elephants to keep track with their movement. Fifty more elephants would be collared by end of March.

At the moment the department is facing a challenge trying to protect villages adjacent to Totapara and Diana forest in Dooars from a group of 100 elephants who are shifting feeding grounds Singhal says.