Tiger reserve officials to use Fisheries Department boats

The Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) officials have joined hands with the Tamil Nadu Fisheries Department to use their boats to patrol the water bodies lying closer to forest areas to enhance vigil along the boundaries.

The ATR spread over 958 sq km under six ranges has a number of reservoirs and water bodies along the forest boundaries and inside the reserve.

To begin with, patrolling will be done along the Aliyar reservoir near Pollachi as the catchments share borders with the reserve forest boundaries, and the officials plan to extend the same to Amaravathy reservoir.

A trial patrolling was done recently at Aliyar in which Field Director of ATR, Rajiv K. Srivastava, Assistant Conservator of Forests, Pollachi, Mohammed Shabab, and Manager of Tamil Nadu Fisheries Development Corporation, Aliyar, J. Castro took part. The objective is to reach the farthest point of the water bodies to keep a tab on movement of carnivores and also to keep poachers and plunderers out of forest wealth.

Tamil Nadu Fisheries Department, which runs the Fisheries Development Corporation, will provide the required assistance and manpower besides the boats.

There are plans to extend the patrolling to Thirumurthy reservoir and to Palar-parandalar dam in Dindigul district.