With the Government sitting over funds for long, plans to control the increasing incidents of man-animal conflicts and to protect standing crops from the wild animals, has failed to take off in the terai-central forest division.
Keeping in view increasing cases of encroachments by the wild animals like elephants in human habitations for green fodder, the terai-central forest division had proposed a plan to install solar fencing in sensitive locations of its area so that wild animals like elephants could be discouraged form sneaking into populated areas as has been witnessed in recent years.
But for want of requisite funds the officials concerned of the terai-central forest division have not yet been able to start work on this task of
solar fencing. The terai-central forest division has demanded about Rs40 lakh for the solar fencing and related works. But it has not yet received any fund, as the officials concerned informed.
It is worth mention here that the terai belt of Uttarakhand is rich in terms of its natural resources including flora and fauna. But rapid urbanisation of this region of late has had an adverse impact on these resources including green fodder resulting in movements of the wild animals towards crops fields in
human habitations.
More so, it is also to add that with the old Gola elephant corridor that goes upto Tanakpuar, Nepal border, becoming virtually defunct due to emergence of dozens of unauthorised colonies in this terai belt of the mountain state, wild animals like elephants have started to move towards populated areas .
The increasing cases of animals’ intrusion into the populated areas damaging standing crops of late only reflect that impression.
Whereas the wild animals damaged crops in about 211.63 acre land in as many as 25 cases during the year 2010-2011, crops spread across 161.69 acre of land were reported to be damaged by the wild animals in as many as 32 occasions in this region in the year 2011-2012, as the officials concerned informed.
However, to protect crops from the wild animals like elephants and to minimise the chances of man-animal conflict in the region, the terai-central forest division had proposed to do solar fencing of all the areas which are vulnerable to wildlife menace.
It is going to do solar fencing in its territory in association with the Uttarakhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (UREDA) to protect crops from wild animals.