Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday announced allocation of Rs 10.44 crore to take up various measures to prevent human-animal conflict in forest areas.
An official release here said people living in forest areas of Hosur, Dharmapuri, Coimbatore, Nilgiris, Gudalur, Sathyamangalam, Kodaikanal, Dindugul, Tirupattur, Tiruvannamalai, Theni, Srivilliputtur, Tirunelveli, Anaimalai Tiger sanctuary and in Udumalpet and Pollachi, were put to great hardship due to movement of elephants and other wild animals.
In a bid to protect people from attacks by wild animals, the government headed by Ms Jayalalithaa has decided to dig huge trenches to prevent elephants from entering the human habitations.
Unveiling a slew of measures to pevent human-animal conflict, Ms Jayalalithaa said check dams would be constructed to ensure storage of huge quantity of water in places inhabited by wild animals, besides creating more water bodies like tanks and ponds and sinking deep borewells to increase the availability of water to animals.
The release said the Chief Minister also announced installation of alarm facilities, solar powered fences and deployment of more number of forest officials by equipping them with all facilities.
“All these steps will be implemented at a total cost of Rs 10.44 crores”, the release added. The release said the Chief Minister also announced setting up of a Wildlife Research Centre at Arignar Anna Zoological Park at Vandalur here at a cost of Rs 27.13 crores. (UNI)