 "Project RE-HAB will soon be replicated in all states, says Gadkari")
As the innovation project RE-HAB (Reducing Elephant Human Attacks using Bees) has yielded encouraging results, it will soon be implemented in different states including West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Assam, MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday.
The project was launched last month, at four locations on the periphery of the Nagarhole National Park in Kodagu district of Karnataka. It is a unique, cost-effective way of preventing elephant-human conflicts without causing any harm to both.
Under this, bee boxes are used as a fence to prevent elephants from entering human habitation, thus reducing loss of lives and property.
Elephants fear that the honey bees might sting them in their eyes and the inner side of the trunk. Also, the buzz of the bees irritates them the most.
Gadkari said the project has yielded encouraging results.
He said the project "has huge potential and it will soon be replicated in all states, affected by elephant attacks like West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Kerala".
The ministry said that states like West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Kerala are major elephant-human conflict zones where the Khadi and Village Industries Commission is planning to implement the project in a phased manner.