COIMBATORE: The Tamil Nadu forest department has extended the deadline till the end of May first week for people to give suggestions on securing and better protecting the 42 elephant corridors that have been identified in the state in the last two years.
Tamil Nadu constituted an Elephant Corridor Committee composed of officers of the forest department, experts, and conservation organisations. The committee is headed by Dr V Naganathan, additional principal chief conservator of forests (Wildlife). Based on consultations and field investigation, the committee has identified 42 elephant corridors. The division-wise reports of the corridors are available at www.forests.tn.gov.in
Forest department sources said the objective of the study was to document habitats, identify critical corridors and movement trails and highlight management needs of the elephant corridors. "We received good response about the report in the last one month. We will wait for one more week, verify the genuineness of the suggestions and take decisions," a senior official said.
As for Coimbatore forest division, the report suggested that mining should not be carried out within 1.5 km of the reserve forest and all brick kilns in Thadagam Valley should be closed. "The report mentioned only Thadagam Valley, and similar restrictions will be imposed across the district. This report should be implemented without giving a chance for brick kiln owners to air their views. Mining should be stopped near water bodies and the state government should concentrate more on environment related issues. The forest department should follow the guidelines in this regard issued by National Green Tribunal, High Court, Supreme Court," S Ganesh Thadagam Valley Protection Committee.
Tamil Nadu is rich in biodiversity, with over 20% of the state area (26,364 km2) covered with forests in 9 forest type groups, from tropical dry thorn forests to deciduous, semi- evergreen, wet evergreen, and montane shola forests and grasslands. Human-elephant conflict has been widespread across 20 forest divisions with varying degrees of intensity. Coimbatore, Gudalur, Sathyamangalam TR, and Hosur FD experienced intense human-elephant conflict among the total forest divisions, the report said.
Elephants are distributed across 20 of the 26 forest divisions, covering 9217.13 sq. km in Tamil Nadu. The state has reported a healthy population of wild elephants with a male-to-female ratio of 1:2.17 in south India. The stable elephant population is mainly due to the state government's continuous conservation efforts and law enforcement during the past two decades. As per the synchronised census held in 2023, the total number of elephants is estimated to be 2,961 with a density of 0.34 individuals/sq.km.