Elephant whisperers

Chhattisgarh forest department has trained an army of people to spread awareness about elephant behaviour, avert conflicts with them

- DEEPANWITA GITA NIYOGI

BY NOW, Sandeep Kumar Aaole knows all the forests and forested areas near his village very well. For the past two years, he has often ventured out into the woods to track elephants. A resident of Tenduwahi in Chhattisgarh's Mahasamund district, Aaole is one of the several haathi mitras (friends of the elephant) in the state who have for nearly a decade been tracking and alerting people of the presence of elephants nearby. "Our job is to update the animal's movements to members of the community in a WhatsApp group," says Aaole. All the haathi mitras belong to the local communities and receive ₹8,000-9,000 a month from the forest department for the work.