CHENNAI: To prevent elephant deaths due to electrocution, rules regarding the provision of solar-powered electric fencing in agricultural land will be notified shortly, TANGEDCO informed the Madras High Court on Thursday.
The submission was made in a status report filed through Additional Advocate General J Ravindran before a special bench of Justices N Sathish Kumar and D Bharatha Chakravarthy. “It is reliably learnt that the process of notifying the rules- regarding the provision of solar electric fencing for farmers- by the environment, climate change and forest department is in an advanced stage and it may be notified very shortly,” the report said.
The report also said that to avoid Arikomban from getting electrocuted when he strayed into Cumbum, feeders were tripped on various occasions. As many as 3,103 works were undertaken to set right low-hanging electricity cables and guarding transformers have been carried out between April 16 to May 31, following orders of the court to avoid electrocution of elephants.
Bottle buyback scheme
Meanwhile, the bench directed the government to consider employing contract workers to carry collection and storage of empty liquor bottles under the buyback scheme. The bench also directed TASMAC to file a report on the fixation of the rate for the empty bottles and the revenue collected.