Ranchi, Aug 17 - The Jharkhand forest department is distributing mobile phones free of cost to keep track of movements of wild elephants that run amok in villages close to forest areas.

'Mobiles are being distributed to one member of the Joint Forest and Village Defence Committee (JFVDC) member of each village. The mobile has all the relevant numbers of the forest department so that the officials can be informed about the movement of rampaging elephants,' Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) A.K. Singh told IANS.

'We have also constituted flying squads who rush to villages where elephant movements are seen. The flying squad members drive away the elephants to save the villagers,' he added.

The mobile phone distribution schemes was launched early this month.

Over 100 mobile sets have been distributed. The forest department has listed 600 villages regularly menaced by wild elephants. One mobile phone wil be distributed in each of these villages.

Since November 2000, when Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar, 679 people have been trampled to death and 1,020 have been injured in the state by wild elephants. Ninety elephants have died in the same period due to poaching and electrocution.