Hassan: Pick and drop facility to save kids from the jumbos

Hassan: School buses may be the norm in Bengaluru and other cities but in villages they are still a luxury with most students walking to their schools. However, children of villages in Sakleshpur-Alur taluks of Hassan are now going to school in private vehicles hired by the forest department to keep them safe from elephants that  frequent the region.

Since December 5, forest officials have begun picking up children from a designated spot in areas like Rajendrapura, Ballupet, Alur, Chikkanayanahalli, Nidanoor and Abbana that are prone to man-jumbo conflict and taking them to school and bringing them back after classes.

Range Forest Officer, Mohan of Sakleshpur range says the pick-up and and drop facility could be extended to other villagers too owing to the frequent encounters that people in these parts have with straying elephants while making their way on foot to their destinations.

A meeting is  scheduled to be held in Hassan on Monday to discuss  streamlining of the pick-up and drop facility for the safety of villagers, according to sources.

Besides hiring vehicles to ferry people,  forest officials here have also captured some elephants that have created havoc in these parts and shifted them from Sakleshpur to elephant camps. 

In other measures, forest officials recently radio-collared two matriarchs of elephant herds to track their movements and prevent man-animal conflict  by sending bulk SMS alerts and installing display signboards to warn people of their presence.