THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:After trying out various options including solar fencing, rail fencing, elephant-proof walls, the Kerala Forest Department is all set to try out ‘rope fence’ to deter elephants from entering into human habitations and raiding crops in villages on the fringes of the forests in the state.
This assumes significance considering the allegations that the solar fence often provokes wild elephants to go on rampage due to the shock involved in the process of dissuading the elephants on touching the fence.
Padma Mahanti, head of the State Forest Development Agency, told Express the department had experimented with a pilot project of fencing the forest borders using steel ropes and posts in the 1.2-km stretch from Anakulam to Valiyaparakutty in the Mankulam forest division in Idukki to ward off elephants and other wild animals. The project has won the approval of Palakkad IIT and the department is set to erect rope fencing also in more forest areas in the state.
DCF C Rajendran said the department has submitted a proposal to the state government to fence its borders with Rs 100-crore worth projects using the fund from the Kerala Infra Structure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB).
The construction structures include elephant-proof wall, elephant-proof trench, solar fencing, steel fencing, and rail fencing.
The state government has approved the first phase by giving administrative sanction to set up 220.5 km solar fence, 2.91 elephant proof wall, and 11.35 rail fence, all worth `25.06 crore. However, despite tendering for many times, the solar fence works will be set up only for 59.5 km. And the work on 5.35 rail fence could not commence due to the issue of sharing the cost between the state government and the Railways on a 50:50 basis.
Following this, the department modified the phase I by reducing the length of solar fencing to 101.5 km and elephant wall to 0.41 km and enhancing the length of rail fence to 16 km. And the department is now aiming to set up steel rope fence in more areas in the next phases, as it requires low investment than rail fencing and is more effective than solar fencing, said Rajendran.