Kozhikode: The elephant-proof rail fence proposal of the forest and wildlife department is pending before the Southern Railway (SR). A new model in Kerala, it is superior to the existing methods like elephant-proof trenching, solar electric fencing or elephant-proof walls as environment-friendly and cost-effective.
Prof Nameer, head of the Centre for Wildlife Studies at the Kerala Agriculture University who submitted the proposal, says the rail fence would not disrupt the movement of non-target species, thus keeping the ecology intact.
“The cost of setting one km long rail fence comes to Rs 61.17 lakh of which Rs 58.37 lakh is for rails,” he says.
“If the tracks are made available free by the railways then the cost per km will come down to Rs 2.77 lakh. It would be only two per cent of the total estimated cost of the now preferred elephant proof wall.”
As the Railways has to replace the used rails once in 25 years for safety concerns, he says, the discarded rail could be handed over to the forest department. Buoyed by the proposal, the forest department has held talks with the SR authorities and a final say is awaited from the Railway Board.
“We are seriously pursuing the plan. The issue is that of the cost factor. According to our estimates, it would require Rs 1.29 crore to put up the rail fence in a kilometre. If the railway gives the green signal, the proposal would be implemented,” said Pramod G. Krishnan, chief conservator of forests (wildlife), Northern Region.
Recently, the state forest minister had appealed the Railways to provide discarded rails on subsidised rates under their corporate social responsibility (CSR) scheme.
Railway sources told DC that though the non-availability of abandoned rails was a problem, they were awaiting a reply from the headquarters.
