Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Tuesday inaugurated Tamil Nadu’s first Wildlife Transit and Treatment Centre at Pethikuttai near Sirumugai, along with the Elephant Camp at Chadivayal, during an event held at the Tamil Nadu Forest Academy (TNFA) in Coimbatore.
The wildlife transit and treatment centre, developed at a cost of Rs 19.5 crore, has an operation theatre and enclosures for all animals, including carnivores, herbivores, birds, snakes and ungulates.
It also has a separate shed for elephant calves and a kraal (wooden enclosure) for adult elephants. A total of 17 structures have been established across five acres of forest land at Pethikuttai.
Close to 7,000 incidents involving the rescue of elephant calves, leopard cubs and other wildlife have been reported across the State.
Likewise, the Chadivayal elephant camp, set up at a cost of Rs 8 crore, has 18 sheds for housing captive elephants and 18 houses for mahouts. The facility also includes a natural pond, shower area, food preparation unit and food serving area.
As part of the modernisation of the forest force, the Deputy CM also handed over the latest rifles and pistols to Assistant Conservators of Forests and Forest Range Officers, among others. These were procured along with ammunition at a cost of Rs 5 crore.
Additional Chief Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Forests Supriya Sahu said that to strengthen forest and wildlife protection, in Phase I, a total of 123 .315 sporting rifles, 65 9mm auto pistols and 204 12 bore pump action guns, along with ammunition for all the above totalling 17,376 rounds, had been provided.
“Our goal is to enhance the safety, confidence and operational readiness of the forest force to help protect forest resources and wildlife effectively,” she said.
Udhayanidhi Stalin also inaugurated digitisation works under which 200-year-old Forest Department documents and data are being digitised at a cost of Rs 2.6 crore.
Later in the day, the Deputy Chief Minister and Sports Minister inaugurated a new hockey ground built at a cost of about Rs 9.68 crore by the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) on the seven-acre land of the R S Puram Corporation Boys Higher Secondary School ground in Coimbatore.
This is the first international-standard hockey ground in the city. With its inauguration, Udhayanidhi Stalin said the State now has three international hockey grounds, including those in Chennai and Madurai.