Fifty staff from the Forest Department and more than 100 National Service Scheme volunteers of the Forest College in Mettupalayam removed plastics on a 15-km stretch between Kunjapanai and Kallar.
Volunteers
According to C. Dinesh Kumar, Forest Ranger, Sirumugai, the staff from Sirumugai and Mettupalayam Forest Ranges along with NSS volunteers started the work around 9 a.m. from Kunjapanai. Around 2.30 p.m., they completed the work near Mettupalayam.
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Mr. Kumar said that the Department carried out the work based on instructions from Forest College Dean P. Durairasu and Division Forest Officer, Coimbatore, V. Thirunavukkarasu. Most of the plastics wastes were bottles and carry bags.
Those engaged in the cleaning operation deposited the wastes in a tractor, which emptied the contents at the Mettupalayam Municipality’s facility in the town.
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The objective of the Department doing the work was to clean the stretch that served as elephant corridor and prevent the animals from eating plastics.
Between December and March, elephants migrated from Kerala to Karnataka by passing through the Coimbatore and Sathyamangalam Forest Division.
Mr. Kumar also said that the Department, to prevent the animals from entering human habitations, planned to dig trenches. It would dig trenches for nearly 100 km before March 31.
The trench alignment was based on the ‘Elephant Blueprint’ the Department had prepared.
Such a move had yielded dividends in the past, he said.