Farmers and members of the public staged a protest near Devarayapuram in Coimbatore district on Tuesday condemning the Forest Department for not taking steps to reduce crop damage by wild elephants. Over 100 people staged a road blockade at Parameswaranpalayam near Devarayapuram on Tuesday morning.
According to the protesters, movement of wild elephants has become a routine affair during night hours at places in and around Narasipuram, Devarayapuram and Thondamuthur. They told journalists that herds of elephants roamed through agricultural lands at night damaging crops. Due to the regular movement of wild elephants, people from these places were afraid to travel at night, they said. The protesters raised slogans against the Forest Department accusing the officials of not taking necessary measures to tackle the issue. They alleged that the field staff were not conducting adequate night patrols in the locality.
With the traffic movement affected due to the protest, V.V. Thirumal, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Perur sub-division), came to Parameswaranpalayam and held talks with the protestors. However, the protesters wanted the District Forest Officer T.K. Ashok Kumar to come to the spot and hold talks with them. Later, Assistant Conservator of Forests C. Dinesh Kumar reached the place and talked to the protesters. They left the place after the official assured them to depute adequate numbers of field staff in the locality for night patrols.
