Forest department is blasting away rocks located in EPT to stop animals from crossing into human settlements.
Picture for representational purpose only.
Coimbatore: The forest department has begun to blast away rocks located in elephant proof trenches (EPT) to stop animals from crossing into human settlements on the forest fringes.
“The government has sanctioned Rs 4.5 lakhs for every kilometer to remove the rocks from EPTs. The rocks will be removed in around 45 kilometers of EPT in the Coimbatore district,” said Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Gautam Dey, on the sidelines of a workshop on Tree Seed Science and SilviÂculture at the Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding (IFGTB).
Pointing out that man-animal conflict has come down by almost 40 per cent, Dey said the forest department has created 40 troughs and raised fodder to prevent elephants from straying in search of food and water.
Stressing on the need for adopting scientific management techniques to tackle degradation of forests and improving the tree population, he said that “64 lakh trees were planted in the year 2012 and 65 lakhs last year,” he said.
Director of IFGTB, N Krishna Kumar, said that more trees should be domesticated for public use. “There are around 150 domesticated trees, which needs to be increased for the benefit of people,” he said.
( Source : dc )
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