COIMBATORE/NILGIRIS: The forest department has taken precautions to ward off wild elephants near polling booths set up in the Manombolly and Valparai forest ranges of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR). The areas near 40 polling booths in these ranges are being frequented by wild elephants.
Three forest department staff have been deployed at each polling booth set up at schools. Also six vehicles have been stationed in these two forest ranges for the prompt transport of staff in case of an emergency.
“The staff will guard the polling booths from Wednesday evening, 6 pm, to Thursday evening, 6 pm, to ensure safe polling. We have also arranged six vehicles with three staff each. They will be available at any time to patrol and chase away wild elephants if they move towards polling booths and human habitations across the Valparai plateau.
The elephants will be chased away by honking and raising voices. Since the wild elephant migration has yet to commence, only a few elephants are currently camping in both these ranges. We expect limited elephant movement,” said Suresh Krishna, Forest Range Officer, Valparai.
The department has also arranged vehicles for tribal people to travel to the polling booths.
“They will be picked up from their settlements and dropped back after they cast their votes at their respective polling booths. For instance, tribals in Kadambarai have to travel 6 km to reach their polling booth. We have informed them that we will transport them to the booths and advised them not to walk along the road as it could make them vulnerable to attacks by wildlife. We have shared the contact numbers of the staff guarding the polling booths with zonal officers as part of monitoring,” Krishna said.
Also, polling booths in seven forest ranges in the Coimbatore forest division have been identified as sensitive in view of the wildlife threat. Staff have been deployed to provide security to personnel and equipment.