Chennai: The multi-crore solar fencing and elephant trench project to prevent wild animals from entering residential area has literally been short-circuited by wild elephants. The elephants are simply too clever for scheming humans. Wildlife activists and forest department officials say that the elephants have now learnt to short circuit the fencing using logs. It appears the time has come for the wildlife corridors to be kept open with human intervention.
The worse is the case of elephant trenches dug up by the forest department, which the jumbos are now using to practise their sliding skills, exposing poor wildlife management. A latest Whatsapp video taken in the border area of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, which is now a hit among wildlife enthusiasts, shows a pachyderm using a log to short-circuit a solar electric fence. Subsequently, the fellow herd members and calves jump over the fence exposing the futility of human technology.
There are photo clippings of Asiatic elephants taken by renowned scientist Dr Raman Sukumar and his associates, which show how pachyderms behave and why they are tending to stray into human habitations. However, rather than addressing the problem of tackling straying elephant by roping in biologists, the foresters are just executing contracts using earth movers. Similarly solar fence projects are also being put up continuously wasting public money, admitted a field ranger in Coimbatore circle.
According to sources, there are about 1,700 km of solar fences erected in Tamil Nadu, including a 400-kilometre stretch in Coimbatore and Erode forest divisions. Despite annually spending Rs 20 crore as capital funds and additional expenditure to maintain the fence, wild elephants in Coimbatore, Erode and Sathyaman- galam areas continue to kill more than 10 people annually. In 2012, wild elephants had ventured into human habitations more than 3,000 times in this division, sources said.
In August 2013, Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa dispersed a relief of Rs 30 lakh to the families of 10 persons killed in various human animal conflicts in different parts of the state, of whom nine victims were trampled by elephants, sources added. “For the past four years, solar fencing and elephant trenches have been put up spending several crores of public money. The result is that both humans and elephants are dying.
In Nilgiris, four elephants had also died due to electrocution as villagers swap ineffective solar lines with illegal high voltage power lines,” said S Jayachandran, joint secretary, Tamil Nadu Green Movement. For the year 2013 –14, Rs 20 crore was sanctioned to develop an elephant trench for 440 kilometres and these structures are now sliding points for the jumbos. In 2013, an amount of Rs3.40 crore was paid as compensation for those killed in wildlife encounters.
During 2014-15, maintenance activities were carried out for these ineffective schemes and now fresh funds are getting sanctioned for 2015 benefiting contractors to execute the annual schemes, sources explained. When contacted, a senior IFS officer said if solar fencing and trenches were not created, the mortality rate would have been more and attributed the increase in conflicts due to increase in wildlife population and decrease in TN forest quality. Efforts to contact environment secretary Hansraj Verma for his reaction proved futile.
