Stop sanction of borewells in wildlife zone’
Tamil Nadu Green Movement (TNGM) has appealed to the Nilgiris district administration to stop permitting the digging of borewells in private land in the wildlife zone near the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve
Ooty: The Tamil Nadu Green Movement (TNGM) has appealed to the Nilgiris district administration to stop permitting the digging of borewells in private land in the wildlife zone near the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve as it would affect the animals’ needs. S.Jayachandran, joint secretary of the TNGM, said Nilgiris district collector Dr P. Sankar had permitted the sinking of two borewells in private land in Masinagudi, inches away from the MTR border as well as the nearby elephant corridor.
“While a case on the digging of borewells in Masinagudi and the nearby hamlets on the forest’s fringes is pending in court, the collector, who is supposed to support wildlife welfare and nature conservation, sanctioned sinking of the borewell,” he lamented. Mr Jayachandran felt that the collector should have consulted the forest officials and also the greens, who had already approached the court regarding a ban on the sinking of borewells in the hamlets around the forest’s fringes, instead of taking a suo motu decision and according sanction.
Forest officials were the competent authorities in such matters as they knew the ecology of the area well and the requirements of wildlife conservation. The old survey number of place wherein sanction had been accorded for digging borewells is a notified area under the Tamil Nadu Preservation of Private Forests Act, it lies in the tiger reserve buffer zone and borders the elephant corridor in the Singara-Masinagudi sector.
Digging of borewells and extracting water would dry up the places nearby and deplete the animals’ supply of water. The TNGM wants the Nilgiris Collector to reconsider his decision and withdraw the permission and also close down the borewell if it had been dug already.Otherwise, the TNGM would be left with no other option but to challenge the Collector’s order in the HC, Mr Jayachandran said.
( Source : dc )
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