The project involved digging elephant-proof trenches, erecting solar fencing and creating fodder and water facilities in the forests.
Not surprisingly, the fences and trenches to prevent wild elephants straying out of their habitat either do not exist or have simply proved ineffective. "Crores of rupees have gone down the drain because of a lack of monitoring and poor maintenance,'' said a senior forest official, presenting in-house data. The figures reflect the expenditure on fencing and trenching since 2005 by five states -- Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
"The fence had become useless due to lack of maintenance. Batteries, solar panels and other equipment was stolen. Trenches have either given in or were refilled with mud,'' the officer added.
When the human-elephant conflict raised its head in early 2000, the Union government initiated a project by offering financial assistance to the state government to install electric fencing on 2,244 sqkm area along the forest fringes of five states to check elephant attacks on homes, crops and people. When this failed, they mooted digging of trenches. "We struggled for years to get the forest department to commission a solar electric fence near our village Thithimathi in Kodagu district, but it went out of order within two months," said Naveen Somaiah, a coffee planter.
Karnataka alone has spent nearly Rs 250 crore to further contain the menace over the past eight years. Elephant-proof trenches were dug over a 500 sqkm stretch, and a solar fence running 700 sqkm erected in the sensitive border areas of the forests. The fencing and trenching were done largely in problematic areas of the Western Ghats, including Bangalore Rural, Kodagu, Shimoga, Mysore, Hassan, Chamarajnagar, Uttara Kannada and Belgaum.
"Fencing and trenching between the fringe areas of the forests and villages is an effective measure to check human-elephant conflict. But unless you have a mechanism to monitor and maintain these systems, it proves ineffective over a period of time,'' said Praveen Bhargav, managing trustee of Wildlife First.
This, however, has not deterred the state government from digging trenches and fences.
The Karnataka government's new forest policy mooted by the previous BJP government reads: "Efforts shall be made to mitigate human deaths and crop damage by taking up elephant-proof trenches, solar fencing and other kinds of appropriate physical barriers in sensitive areas. The short-term measures include EPT, solar fencing, crop compensation and anti-depredation camps in sensitive areas."
Forest minister B Ramanath Rai said the state government has mooted a Rs 100-crore project to create a safe corridor for elephants. "We are ready with a elephant corridor project to check human-elephant conflict. After the Kolar and Anekal incidents in the past two days, we've decided to implement it in right earnest," Rai added.
Expert solutions
Instead of fencing and trenching, the government should seriously consider a proposal to connect fragmented elephant corridors and declare them protected areas. This should be achieved by acquiring land where corridor connectivity has been broken. The protected areas will have better water holes, fodder development and weed control. Steps should be taken to form eco-development committees to sensitize people to manage the man-animal conflict in a rational manner.
KK Poonacha | retired forest officer
We need long-term proactive solutions to minimize conflicts, apart from immediate measures. The annual fund of Rs 1,000 crore earmarked for Karnataka by the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority should be used to implement these plans.
Praveen Bhargav | managing trustee, wildlife first
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