The National People’s Party (NPP) Nagaland unit has expressed deep concern over the incident of September 14 at Lichuyan village under Changpang Block in Wokha district, where a herd of about 20 elephants destroyed multiple betel nut farms, leaving farmers in distress and fear.

The NPP Nagaland in a statement, expressed solidarity with the affected farmers and urged the government of Nagaland to release immediate compensation and relief assistance.

However, the party noted that piecemeal measures are no longer enough. The scale and recurrence of human–elephant conflict in Wokha, Mokokchung, and other districts demand a systematic and scientific approach, it said.

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Towards this, the NPP Nagaland called upon the state government to adopt the Kerala model, where the state has officially declared human–wildlife conflict as a State-Specific Disaster under the Disaster Management framework. This model allows use of State Disaster Response Funds (SDRF) for compensation and relief, deployment of rapid response teams with trained forest personnel and local volunteers, inter-departmental coordination between Forest, disaster management, police, and village guards, and adoption of scientific prevention methods, including solar fencing, trenches, and community warning systems.

“Declaring human–elephant conflict as a State-Specific Disaster in Nagaland will ensure faster response, stronger accountability, and adequate resources to protect both human lives and livelihoods,” the party stated.

It further appealed to the Central government as well to extend this recognition nationwide by bringing human–elephant conflict under the ambit of a nationally managed disaster, ensuring equal priority across all affected states.