Nilgiris Collector Archana Patnaik, in a statement issued here on Wednesday, said the final public notice relating to the proposed elephant corridor in the Sigur plateau of the Nilgiris district has come into effect.
Accordingly, the resort owners and other private land owners within the area proposed to be declared as an Elephant Corridor should vacate and hand over possession of the land to the Collector immediately.
Necessary compensation will be given to the private land owners. Those living on government poromboke lands will be given alternative dwelling sites or compensation as per the Forest Dwellers Act, 2006. The details of survey numbers of private lands, Tamil Nadu Electricity Board lands and government lands which form part of the corridor are in the notice which can also be browsed in the official website of the Forest Department (www.forests.tn.nic.in).
The map of the final corridor falling within Sholur, Masinagudy, Hullathy and Kadanad Villages inside the Sigur plateau has also been published.
In compliance with the orders of the Madras High Court and the government, the District Forest Officer, the Nilgiris North Division had published details pertaining to the corridor with a cadastral map on January 7 and 8, 2010 in newspapers. A public hearing was also conducted in February, 2010.
The orders of the government had been passed to protect the area from fragmentation and obstruction by development activities like constructions, holiday resorts, solar energised electric fencing etc and also to ensure safe and undisturbed passage of elephants, genetic dispersal, long survival of the species and development of forests.
