Farmers in upper Kodaikanal, including Keezhamalai, Anju Veedu and Pethupaarai areas, have been complaining about elephant movement inside their villages for the last one week.
Submitting a memorandum to Collector S Visakan on Friday, they said that several reminders to the Forest authorities had not fetched any desired results so far. “We have been asking them to chase the elephants inside the forests. Our crops including mango/guava orchards and plantain crops have been destroyed,” they claimed.
In the recent past alone, about 100 acres of standing crops and fruits have been destroyed. Some of the dwellings and storage rooms in the fields have been damaged by the elephants, they stated in the petition.
Their foremost appeal was to chase the elephants and secondly they demanded compensation for the loss and also sought a permanent solution from the wild animal’s threat.
A senior official in the Forest department told The Hindu that during rainy days, herds of elephants camping was common. Chasing them may not be possible. “Probably, we can work out modalities on how to prevent loss of lives and crops for the farmers,” he added.
The Collector said that he would get officials from the Horticulture department to inspect the crops and ascertain the loss within a week.
