Four forest ranges in Erode Forest Division, spread across 80,567 hectares, will form the new ‘Thanthai Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary’, the 18th wildlife sanctuary in the State that was announced in the State Budget on Monday.
The reserve forest areas in Anthiyur, Bargur, Thattakarai and Chennampatti, which are home to more than 10 tigers, elephants, leopards, wild boars, gaurs and deer, will be covered under the new sanctuary. The sanctuary is located on the western side of Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR), northern side of Kollegal forest division and eastern side of Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka and adjacent to Cauvery North and South Wildlife Sanctuaries in Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri.
K. Rajkumar, Conservator of Forests and Field Director, STR, told The Hindu that the forest areas have good prey base and the new sanctuary would form a tiger corridor connecting Bandipur Tiger Reserve, STR, Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary and Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary. “Apprehensions raised by tribal people and stakeholders would be addressed,” he said and added that the livelihood of people would not be affected by the new sanctuary.
V.P. Gunasekaran, State Committee Member, Tamil Nadu Tribal People Association, said that there were 34 revenue and forest villages in the division and over 35,000 people were dependent on the forest area for generations. “We want the rights of dwellers, as given in the Forest Right Act, to be ensured before the new sanctuary is notified,” he said and added that they would hold consultations with experts and people before deciding the next court of action.
N. Venkatesh Prabhu, District Forest Officer, Erode Division, said that only the reserve forest areas in the division were declared as wildlife sanctuary and that there would be no new restrictions on the people. “Only the mandatory eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) distance, that is yet to be fixed from their demarcated boundaries, will change,” he added.
