Bangalore: In an effort to check man-animal conflict, the Karnataka Forest Department has put forward a proposal to connect Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP) and Tamil Nadu Forests to develop elephant corridors.
"We have written to the Revenue Department seeking about 4,000 hectares of land which would include private land of farmers as well. We have provided them the Geographical Information System (GIS) map and satellite images of the entire plan. Once we get the approval and the land, we will proceed further with the work," said Biswajit Mishra, Deputy Conservator of Forests, BBP.
Speaking to TNIE about the problem related to mananimal conflict, he said: "With the onset of monsoon, the movement of elephants increases from the southern part towards the north. With BBP lying in the northern most tip of the Mysore Elephant Reserve Forest, the number of elephants encroaching in are all the more. It is at this monsoon time, the mananimal conflict rises up and elephant raid on the fields increases especially during night hours."
"In addition to the 100odd residential elephants in the BBP area, during the monsoon we can see an addition of around 200 more elephants encroaching in from the bordering Ragihalli Forest and Tali Reserve Forest of Tamil Nadu, increasing the chances of conflict rate," he added.
Meanwhile, the poor shape index of the Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP) has been a major issue concerning the forest officials for developing elephant corridor in the BBP area. He said: "The park area is not circular and the ratio between the area and the perimeter is not ideal, it is very big 4:2 which ideally should have been 1:1."
"The BBP has a lot of fringe area exposed to outside world. It has about 174odd kms of boundary length including the enclosures. About 24 kms is the Tali Reserve Forest in the boundaries of Tamil Nadu, the rest are surrounded by villages. The space for movement of elephants is very narrow. Once the surrounding area is allotted to us by the Revenue Department, then the setting up of the elephant corridor will not be a problem," he added.
However, as part of the protective measure, solar fencing across the BBP border and sensitive areas is under process. Mishra said: "Earlier, 25 kms of the BBP area was covered with solar fencing. Now it is increased to 28 kms this year. To put a check on other animals as well, we have put up seven strings of solar fencing. Now, 60 per cent of the area is covered with solar fencing."
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