Evergreen forests may become a hotspot for man-animal conflicts

Former employees of tea estate encroaching on parts of reserve forests

Bone of contention: The controversial land at T.R. Bazzar near Udhagamandalam, over which the forest department and private persons are staking claim of ownership.

Sprawling well over 2,000 acres of land, the abandoned Mahavir tea estate in Naduvattam could turn into a potential hotspot for man-animal conflicts, with more than 1,000 families of former tea plantation workers increasingly sharing space with a quickly rejuvenating forest now providing adequate cover for tigers and other carnivores to thrive in.

Many residents who had been formerly working in the tea estate have begun encroaching on the reserve forests that provide a corridor to animals extending from the bio-rich hotspots of Mukurthi National Park to the O'Valley Range in Gudalur. On Wednesday night, an altercation between forest staff, who were trying to prevent further encroachment of the forests, as well as local people, led to one guard being seriously injured.

Resistance to forest staff

According to A. Paulraj, Forest Range Officer, Pykara Range, a group of 15 staff members were on a routine patrol from Mukurthi to Pykara when they spotted Manoharan trying to encroach on the Woodbrooke Reserve Forest, near Bellevue division in the Mahavir Estate. An altercation between the two parties allegedly led to forest guard M.S. Moorthy being stabbed with a knife and sustaining injuries on his head. “He had to receive 13 stitches and we have registered a complaint with the police,” said Mr. Paulraj.

Local people, including Manoharan's wife, Sujha, stated that the forest staff had assaulted her husband first, which led to a fight resulting in the guard suffering a serious fall. The small farmers do not dispute that they were growing their crops in a reserve forest, but state that they had no alternative but to live off the land.

A Jayasingh, 56, who was born in the estate and has lived here his entire life, said that many of the houses in the seven sub-divisions in the estate — Bellevue, Greenway, Little Style, Hosington, Lower and Upper Prostect and Pykara Falls — have no electricity or proper road connectivity. “We started growing crops when the tea estate shutdown and we had no other means of sustaining ourselves,” said Jayasingh.

Similarly, D. Parthasarathy, another resident in Bellevue division, said that the residents were ready to move out of the estate provided the government or the Tea Board finds them alternative employment and housing.

“None of the quarters built for the workers in Bellevue have any electricity, and the roofs are leaky. We only live here because we have nowhere else to go,” he said and added that the crops they grew are susceptible to destruction by wildlife, mostly by wild boar and indian gaur.

Rejuvenation of forests

As the estate has been abandoned for over a decade, the forests that would once have covered the hills on which tea had been planted, have begun rejuvenating and are providing ideal cover for a wide variety of wildlife. The endangered Nilgiri laughingthrush is a common sight, with dozens nesting by the side of the road, while leopards, gaur and even tigers are spotted. Local people said that every year, elephants move through the estate, criss-crossing between Mukurthi National Park and Gudalur.

Environmentalists said that the estate was an important elephant and wildlife corridor, but are unable to come up with any solutions. “On the one hand, it is a crucial habitat for animals, but since it is private property, very little can be done to ensure that farming is stopped and the forests allowed to rejuvenate,” said an environmentalist.