The 321.74 acres identified in Somayampalayam village for Tamil Nadu Tech City abuts a proposed elephant corridor, namely Mangarai - Thanikandi corridor, identified by the State government appointed Elephant Corridor Committee. It is one of the 42 elephant corridors identified by the committee which was tasked to reassess elephant corridors in Tamil Nadu.
The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden (PCCF & CWLW) had submitted the findings of the committee in a status report filed before the Madras High Court in a case related to elephant corridors (WP No: 27356 of 2019) in November 2023. However, these 42 elephant movement paths are yet to be notified as corridors by the State government.
Also, a study report, namely ‘Brief investigation and justification for notifying elephant movement paths as corridors in southern part of Coimbatore Forest Division’, prepared by K. Kalidasan of Osai environmental organisation in 2023 had also identified the proposed site for TN Tech City in Somayampalayam as an important elephant movement path falling under ‘Mangarai – Anuvavi – Marudhamalai - Thanikandi elephant movement path’. The report had proposed to declare it as Mangarai - Thanikandi elephant corridor.
After the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Limited (ELCOT) floated a tender for the preparation of detailed master plan and transaction advisory services for establishment of the Tech City, Osai treasurer N. Senthil Kumar has petitioned Minister for Information Technology and Digital Services, Tamil Nadu, Managing Director of ELCOT, Coimbatore District Collector, PCCF & CWLW, and others to halt the project in the proposed site.
It said that the land identified for the project behind Bharathiar University is along elephant movement path, abutting the forest boundary of Marudhamalai foothills, which is used by elephants for movement between the Boluvampatti and Anaikatti reserve forests. Most of the elephant movement in the Marudhamalai forest happens along the foothills, where the hill slope has moderate gradients. Elephant herds with calves and juveniles that cannot use steep hill slopes with high gradients naturally use the flat lands along the foothills for movement.
As per the report, Marudhamalai valley is at the juncture of the larger Boluvampatti valley and the relatively smaller Thadagam valley. Elephants move through flat lands at the foothills, like the vacant land behind Bharathiar University, to traverse between the valleys.
“At many places along the boundary shared by the construction site and the forest, the rocky hill slope is steep and hence elephants are forced to move on the flat regions within the proposed site abutting the forest boundary. When a building comes up in the flat lands, especially in the region abutting steep hill slope, the elephants that cannot use the steep slope have no other choice other than circumventing the building to move to the other side of the forest and hence are forced to move deep into housing colonies of Nalvar Nagar, IOB Colony and other major housing colonies causing a dire situation for both humans and elephants. Eventually, this will only increase the intensity of already existing human - elephant conflict in the region,” it said.
The petition also stated that about 17 villages along the foothills abutting the Coimbatore Forest Division, including Somayampalayam, are under the Hill Area Conservation Authority (HACA) rules that restrict certain activities and also regulate the construction of buildings.
