COIMBATORE: After facing several difficulties in preventing elephants from damaging commodities in PDS shops, authorities are now trying out out-of-the-box solutions. Officials of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR), with funding from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), have decided to try out a novel initiative of setting up a ration shop in an iron container at Thaimudi estate, near Valparai.
Work on the first-of-its-kind initiative in Tamil Nadu is expected to commence soon. Recently Manomboly range officials, a WWF team and officials from the district civil supplies department inspected the site.
There have been several reports of hungry elephants ransacking ration shops and consuming food grains that were kept for public distribution.
There are more than 60 ration shops in and around Valparai and the ration shop at Thaimudi was damaged by wild elephants several times.
As per the new plan, a container would be used on a trial basis at Thaimudi which is 15 kilometres from Valparai town. This could be replicated in other areas soon if the trial is found to be successful.
“The project cost is around Rs 5 lakh. The shop will have a thermocol ceiling so as to protect the PDS items from the weather. The container will be mounted on four pillars on a concrete base. The container would be placed five to six feet from the ground. Our plan is to protect the PDS items and residential quarters from being damaged by the elephants, thus mitigating the human-elephant conflicts,” said A Manikandan, forest range officer of Manomboly forest range.
The thermocol ceiling would be covered with hylam sheets to prevent moisture from getting inside, he explained. Recently, the forest department had also launched a WhatsApp initiative called ‘Tadam’ for the benefit of Valparai residents to provide periodic updates about elephant movement. The SMS and voice alerts and alert beacons also provide early alerts. Zero human deaths and decline in property damages due to wild elephant attacks in the region is due to the initiatives of ATR and Nature Conservation Foundation.