The country’s first rail fence project to mitigate human-elephant conflict was launched at Nagarahole on Tuesday.
Minister for Forests B. Ramanath Rai laid the foundation for the first stage of the project at Veeranahosahalli in Nagarahole.
The project envisages erecting rail fence at a length of 33 km of the forest boundary in the first phase for which Rs. 212 crore has been sanctioned by the State government. Similar work will be taken up at Bandipur, Madikeri and Virajpet, the Minister said.
The rail fence project will cover the entire forest boundary around wildlife zones in the State but primarily around Bandipur and Nagarahole where human-elephant conflict is the highest.
Experts in support of the project aver that only the forest boundary would be fenced along with the existing elephant-proof trenches, but wildlife corridors that facilitate movement of elephant herds and other wildlife would not be fenced. These corridors are essential not only for the free movement of wildlife but helps in gene transfer from one herd to another thus preventing inbreeding.
The authorities will use discarded tracks procured from the Railways for the purpose and though expensive, it is reckoned to be a permanent measure to mitigate human-elephant conflict.
However, it is no barrier against other forms of wildlife, including tigers and leopards, which can jump over while wild boars can sneak in through the gap. But, a high number of human and wildlife conflict pertains to elephants and this can be reduced significantly, according to officials.
The rail fence project was originally conceived by Graham Armstrong who first installed it around the Addo National Park in South Africa.
Officials say that though Bandipur and Nagarahole forests have Elephant Proof Trenches (EPT) and solar fencing, the EPTs are useless unless maintained.
Besides, elephants are intelligent enough to fill the trench with silt and cross-over.
While Bandipur has more than 200 km of EPT, Nagarahole has roughly about 150 km dug over the years and their maintenance costs around Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 20,000 per km a year.
