The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) has provided a graphic description to the Madras High Court as to how the ecologically pristine and biologically rich Palani hills, housing the hill station Kodaikanal, had been destroyed by migrant land encroachers, causing damage to wildlife and forest dwellers.
In a shocking revelation, the officer told the court that it had become difficult to address the issue of man-animal conflict in some localities because residents do not allow the forest department to erect solar powered fences fearing that they might end up losing lands encroached by them with the active support of local politicians.
Filing a counter affidavit to a public interest litigation petition that complained about the havoc caused by elephants in Kodaikanal and Dindigul forest divisions, the PCCF Ravi Kant Upadhyay said, Kodaikanal was discovered by the British in 1821 when the entire area was a broadly forested landscape dominated by shola grassland ecosystem.
Four major elephant landscapes in Western Ghats
| Elephant landscape | Elephant populated areas | Elephant habitat (sq. km) | Population (numbers) |
| North Canara | Uttara Kannada-Maharashtra-Goa | 5,081 | 50 |
| Brahmagiri, Nilgiri Eastdern Ghats | Malnad-Crestline-Mysore-Nilgiris-Wynad-Nilambur plateaus | 13,058 | 5,939 |
| Anamalai-Nelliampathy high range | (i) Anamalai-Nelliampathy-Palani hills | 5,352 | 2,257 |
| (ii)Idukki-Kothamangalam | 296 | 195 | |
| Periyar-Agasthyamalai | (i)Periyar plateau-Varushanad-Mehamalai Hills | 3,860 | 1,508 |
| (ii)Agasthyamalai-Mahendragiri hills | 1,758 | 331 | |
| Total | 29.405 | 10,280 |
Compensation paid so far for damages due to wildlife in Dindigul, Kodaikanal and Oddanchathiram
| Details | No. of cases (2016) | Amt settled (2016) | No. of cases (2017) | Amt settled (2017) | Total no. of cases | Total amt settled |
| Human death | 1 | 3,00,000 | 6 | 24,00,000 | 7 | 27,00,000 |
| Injury | 5 | 1,10,000 | 8 | 5.20,000 | 13 | 6,30,000 |
| Crop damage | 107 | 23,79,400 | 85 | 13,29,000 | 192 | 37,08,400 |
| Livestock damage | 4 | 40,000 | 5 | 67,000 | 9 | 1,07,000 |
| Property damage | 8 | 45,000 | 3 | 15,000 | 11 | 60,000 |
| Total | 125 | 28,74,400 | 107 | 43,31,000 | 232 | 72,05,400 |
Action taken on plea for recognition as forest dwellers in Kodaikanal, Dindigul and Oddanchathiram
| No. of applications received | No. of applications accepted | No.of applications rejected |
| Scheduled tribes | Other traditional forest dwellers | Total | Scheduled tribes | Other traditional forest dwellers | Total | Scheduled tribes | Scheduled tribes | Total |
| 329 | 1,214 | 1,543 | 329 | 1,214 | 1,214 |
Details of works done in Dindigul dt to keep elephants at bay
| Work details | Km |
| Erection of solar fence | 115.50 km |
| Formation of elephant proof trenches | 161 km |
*Source: Data submitted by Principal Chief Conservator of Forests in Madras High Court
Paliyan were the original inhabitants of Palani Hills and even they had begun to
settle there only after 1840s. The population of Kodaikanal was reported to be just 615 residents in 1883 but it began developing as a pleasant hill resort after 1960 and consequently, its population had grown to 70,018 as per the 2011 census.
The entire Palani landscape underwent huge transformation due to the change in land use pattern in the recent past. “Commercial tourism activities; ever-expanding pear, plum, peach, coffee, banana, vegetables and eucalyptus plantations over a period of time resulted in massive fragmentation in the wildlife habitat,” the PCCF said.
Stating that Asian elephants require a large space of approximately 700-750 square kilometres per year as home range apart from 150 to 200 kg of fodder and 150 litres of water, the officer said, the forest was no more contiguous so as to enable free migratory movement of almost all wild animals including the elephants.
“The Paliyan and other inhabitants used to co-exist with the wild animals by way of fine-tuning their socio economic practices but the recent migrants with least knowledge about co-existence are indulging in profit oriented activities,” Mr. Updhyay said in reply to the PIL petition filed by activist A.R. Gokulakrishnan through his counsel P. Raja.
Accusing coffee, banana and vegetable cultivators of using “dangerous” pesticides, the officer said that the use of such chemicals had led to reduction of population of honeybees and loss of livelihood of the tribals. “As a result, original inhabitants like Paliyars are forced to flee to the lower plains in search of alternative livelihood opportunities,” he added.
The PCCF said the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act of 2006 defines ‘other traditional forest dwellers’ to mean those residing in the forests for at least three generations with the term ‘generation’ having been defined under the legislation to mean a period of 25 years.
The State government had received 1,543 applications from 20 villages in Kodaikanal, Dindigul and Oddanchatiram Taluks to recognise them as forest dwellers under the 2006 Act. However, the applications of 329 Scheduled Tribes alone were accepted and 1,214 applications for recognition as ‘traditional forest dwellers’ were rejected for want of proof.
He further told the court that Precious swamp areas, in private estates as well as in the government lands, which once served as a habitat meeting food and water requirements of wildlife, had been gradually encroached upon and planted with lucrative crops such as banana and this was one of the primary reasons for the man-animal conflict, he added.
“This has led the elephant population to invade into crop fields by breaking solar fences, crossing elephant proof trenches and also other conventional barriers used by local farmers to scare and drive away elephants from crop fields.... All methods used by local communities to prevent elephants could not yield any success rate,” he added.
The officer also listed out steps taken by the forest department by raising fodder species and removing exotic and invasive aliens species such as lantana, wattle and eupatorium from forest areas to attract the animals into it. “But the activities of wild elephants cannot be confined well within the fragmented habitats devoid of corridors,” he said.
After recording his submissions, a Division Bench of Justices S. Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad disposed of the PIL petition with a direction to the forest department to continue its efforts without affecting the biological diversity of the region.
