Workshop on human-wildlife conflict for local body heads

Coimbatore Collector Archana Patnaik speaking at the inauguration of a workshop the Forest Department had organised in Coimbatore on Friday to sensitise panchayat presidents and town panchayat chairpersons on human-wildlife conflict.

The Tamil Nadu Forest Department has asked heads of 56 panchayats and town panchayats in Coimbatore Forest Division to bring about awareness among the residents of those local bodies on human-wildlife conflict and also initiate development works so as mitigate the conflict.

The Department made the appeal at a workshop it had organised in Coimbatore on Friday.

According to District Forest Officer M. Senthil Kumar, the objective was to engage the presidents and chairpersons in a workshop so that they helped create awareness among the people to co-exist with the wildlife.

The workshop gains importance at a time when people from various groups wanted the Department to contain animals within the forest boundary or shoot animals that ventured out or at least grant such permission to farmers whose crops were damaged.

And in bringing about this awareness and ensuring the co-existence, the leaders had a role in that they could plan budgetary allocation and implementation of schemes to minimise the conflict. For instance, they could take up street lighting in hamlets that were near forest boundary or construct toilets so that the people did not venture into forests to attend to nature’s call, Mr. Kumar said. Most deaths happened during dawn and dusk when people went out to relieve themselves, he added.

It also sought the local body heads’ cooperation in maintaining trenches or water troughs.

The presidents and chairpersons in turn asked for power to spend on things that the panchayats and town panchayats needed. They wanted to buy torch lights but could not and had to instead place a demand to the officials from the Rural Development Department.

The Forest officer said that the Department had planned more such meetings – the next would be with various Government departments. Earlier, Collector Archana Patnaik inaugurated the workshop in the presence of Project Officer, District Rural Development Agency, T. Murugan.