Overview
- Gaja Mitra volunteer teams will operate in high-conflict districts with a ₹500 monthly allowance and gear including torches, megaphones, uniforms, shoes and crackers, as Assam reports 71 human and 41 elephant deaths this year.
- Any Gaja Mitra death during elephant depredation response will be treated as on duty, with ₹5 lakh ex gratia to the next of kin.
- AI-enabled camera traps and real-time information networks will track herd movement and issue alerts to nearby villages.
- Watchtowers at strategic locations and temporary single-strand solar-powered fencing will help steer elephants away from settlements without blocking traditional routes, to be executed during the October–March season under district committees chaired by the guardian minister.
- Habitat measures include cleaning and desilting water bodies, building check dams and water-harvesting structures, creating saucer-shaped water holes with solar pumps, with CAMPA funds proposed to support these works.