Residents, mostly farmers and traders, in Kanavai Mottur village near Gudiyatham town in Vellore, blocked Gudiyatham - Paradarami Main Road on Friday, to protest against forest officials for not taking steps to prevent elephants from damaging crops in the area.
The residents said that remote villages like Kallapadi, Kanavai Mottur, Anupu, and Kathirikulam are located near reserve forests that come under the Gudiyatham forest range along the Tamil Nadu - Andhra Pradesh border. The farmers in the villages cultivate paddy, banana, ragi, groundnuts, mango, and vegetables, covering around 130 acres in these villages. “Wild elephants damage standing crops during the night. It has become a perennial problem in villages around Gudiyatham,” said K. Mahesh, a farmer.
Friday’s road block by residents came after a herd of elephants damaged crops in these villages the previous night. They blocked the road around 11 a.m., demanding a permanent solution to end elephant menace.
Immediately, a team of forest officials and Paradarami police reached the spot and pacified the residents. After a few rounds of talk, residents dispersed based on the assurance given by the authorities that measures would be taken to prevent elephants from venturing into the farmlands in villages along reserve forests. “With limited staff, we have been trying to regulate the movement of elephants to travel on its corridor from forests in A.P to Jawadhu Hills. We will intensify our patrols,” K. Masilamani, forest range officer (Gudiyatham) told The Hindu.
At present, Synagunda, Kallapadi, Mordana, and Paradarami Extension RFs come under the Gudiyatham forest range, covering at least 15,000 hectares on the T.N - A.P border. Forest officials said that most of the elephants come from Kaundinya Wildlife Sanctuary in Chittoor (A.P). On their way, they damage crops along Mordhana dam near Gudiyatham.
The Forest Department had sent a proposal to erect solar fencing of 25 km of the forests in the Gudiyatham range, six months ago . Currently, only Veerachettipalayam RF in Gudiyatham has solar fencing for 2.5 km.
Also, forest officials said that only 14 forest staff out of the sanctioned strength of 36 are working in the range. Each forest beat consists of a forest guard and a watcher to patrol at least 1,100 hectares of RF every day. Due to staff crunch, five beat areas are monitored by two staff.
