The Tamil Nadu government’s plan to develop one of the Tamil Nadu Tech Cities (TN Tech City) in Coimbatore will further escalate negative interactions between humans and wild elephants if it does not find an alternative land away from forests, according to conservationists and nature enthusiasts from the region.
As per a tender floated by the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Limited (ELCOT), the plan is to develop a TN Tech City in an area of 321.74 acres in Somayampalayam village, which lies next to reserve forest and elephant transit paths.
The tender for the preparation of Detailed Master Plan and transaction advisory services for establishment of Tech City has marked the area as a patch of unutilised land, sandwiched between forest boundary and two government-run campuses – the Bharathiar university and the Anna University (Regional Campus).
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“The sandwich area and forest peripheries are used by wild elephants for regular movements between Thadagam Valley and Boluvampatti Valley via the much disturbed Maruthamalai foothills. Elephants primarily use the plain land in the buffer as the forest area is steep. Already elephants are entering the two university campuses. Leopards are also frequently sighted in the area,” said a forest official.
As per the tender, the Tech City to be developed under public-private partnership model is proposed to have have housing, shopping malls, retail outlets, Grade A office spaces, schools, hospitals, recreational areas, hotels, multiplex screens, eco-parks along with integrated road connectivity, uninterrupted power and water supply along with advanced OFC infrastructure among others.
“The land identified in Somayampalayam village falls under the Coimbatore forest range, which is witnessing regular conflicts between humans and elephants. Infrastructure at Maruthamalai foothills, movement of devotees, the two university campuses and the Government Law College are among existing disturbances to the wildlife. This problem is common along the forest boundary, starting from the Kerala border at Walayar and towards the Nilgiri foothills. Any further large-scale development in buffer areas will escalate the conflict situation and elephants will start entering villages increasingly,” said a biologist familiar with the Coimbatore Forest Division, on conditions of anonymity.
Along with the two universities and the law college, TICEL Bio Park-III is also functioning in 10 acres of land at Somayampalayam village.
P. Shanmugasundaram of the Coimbatore Wildlife Conservation Trust said the organisation, which has been working along with the Forest Department to mitigate the conflict situation largely in the Maruthamalai foothills, has petitioned the Coimbatore District Collector seeking no developmental activities in the vacant land behind the two universities.
“Somayampalayam is one of the villages covered under the Hill Area Conservation Authority (HACA), which means that the hill area has to be protected. Besides elephants, large numbers of spotted deer and carnivores like leopards also use the land. Instead of planning the Tech City close to Western Ghats hills, the government can develop it in the eastern or southern side of the district,” said nature enthusiast K. Mohanraj.
