Saturday, Oct 23, 2010
http://www.hindu.com/2010/10/23/stories/2010102354660200.htm
Coimbatore: Rampant encroachments and shrinking width of the Kallar – Jakkanarai corridor are proving to be a disturbance for the movement of elephants from Western Ghats to Eastern Ghats.
This has resulted in the pachyderms being forced to cross the Mettuppalayam – Coonoor ghat road holding back the busy traffic on the National Highway.
Two days ago, an elephant and a calf was found waiting on the roadside for hours together.And finally they crossed the road after holding traffic for hours.
Joint Secretary of Tamil Nadu Green Movement, S. Jayachandran pointed out that already the Government has notified the stretch from Seegur to Singara via Bokkapuram as a corridor for ensuring the migration of pachyderms without any disturbance.
The corridor comprises land belonging to Forest Department, Revenue Department and patta land.
Crucial
The Kallar – Jakkanarai corridor is crucial for the migration of the jumbos. Its shrinkage has resulted in confining elephant population to a small pocket thereby causing instances of man-animal conflict when the jumbos stray into human habitations.
A number of private lands seen fenced at the foothills of western ghats are encroachments. Tamil Nadu Green Movement has a list of such encroachments. Now the corridor is just 800 m wide. The only way to help pachyderms and end man animal conflict is to declare the Kallar – Jakkaranari route an elephant corridor.
