The country's first solar fencing (electric fence) project, built in Sherpur at a cost of crores of taka to keep wild elephants away, has failed. The project's batteries stopped working just four months after it was completed, and most of the equipment has been stolen for lack of long-term care and supervision.

The company that built the fence says the problem is not the batteries: at various times creepers cling to the fence wires and cause short circuits. That is why the electric fence is not working.

The company alleges that the fence became useless soon after completion because local people on the border did not cooperate and showed no interest. The forest department, however, says the situation arose because no staff were appointed to maintain it after the project was completed.

To protect people from elephants, the forest department built a solar-powered wire fence along 13 kilometres of the Jhenaigati and Nalitabari border in Sherpur, with World Bank support, modelled on fences in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Africa. The Tk 91 lakh project was carried out by a Dhaka company named New Nation Solar Limited.

After a BUET team inspected the fence and submitted a report, Mamun Or Rashid, then a forester of the Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation Division, took over the complete work from the implementing company on 27 November 2016. Only four months later, faults appeared in the fence.

On being informed by the forest department, a team from New Nation Solar Limited later inspected it and submitted a report. The report cited lack of cooperation from locals, the absence of skilled electricians, lack of regular maintenance and shrubby plants as the causes of the faults.

Local people say that for about 30 years border residents drove elephants away by lighting torches and beating drums. Many benefited from the electric fence at first, but within a year it stopped working. For five years the fence has lain like this, of no use at all. The government's crores of taka are being wasted for nothing, they say, and the fence should be repaired quickly.

Bimal Koch, a local, said the government built such an expensive project but kept no skilled staff, which is why the fence is of no use. As a result, more than a lakh people living on the border fear once again losing their lives and crops to elephant attacks.

Ranjit Sangma said the fence will be of no use unless proper arrangements are made to repair its batteries and maintain it. If the problem is not solved quickly, border people will face serious trouble from wild elephants.

Abdullah Al Mamun, the forest department's Rangtia range officer in charge at the time, said the project failed quickly because of negligence by the company that built the fence. Even though all its bills were paid on time, it took no interest in the matter, and several letters to it produced no solution.

Denying the allegation, Shah Ahsan Habib Babu, director of the builder, New Nation Solar Limited of Dhaka, said the situation arose because the fence and its equipment were not operated properly. The solar system was out of action for a long time because no skilled staff were appointed, and no further steps were taken afterwards.

He said the company has provided copies of the BUET test report for the project and a letter signed by the then divisional forest officer, Gobinda Chandra Roy, expressing satisfaction at receiving the complete work in good order. The company had also written to the forest department recommending that an electrician be permanently appointed to maintain the fence. But because the forest department did not appoint staff, the project collapsed, he said.

Officials in charge of the Sherpur forest department say the project is in this poor state because the government did not appoint staff to maintain it after completion. Molla Rezaul Karim, chief conservator of forests of the Dhaka wildlife and nature conservation region, has promised a quick solution.

According to the forest department, about 40 kilometres across three upazilas on the Sherpur border are elephant habitat. About 63 people have been killed by elephants in the district so far, while 28 elephants have died in counter-attacks.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.