TIRUPUR: With wild elephants running amok and destroying crops in their farms, residents of Devanurpudur panchayat, in Udumalai block, have been ‘sleeping with one eye open’ for more than a month. Coconut and banana trees in around 50 acres in the panchayat have been lost to the elephants, say villagers. They are also in fear of their lives.

The elephants come to the villages in search of water and food as many waterbodies inside the forests have gone dry. Since then, they have been entering human habitations and the villagers losing their sleep. M Kanthermani (46), a farmer, woke one morning to see his well-grown coconut trees destroyed. “If I had the trees now, I could have sold coconuts for 10 lakh. But, the elephants destroyed the whole area,” he said.

The villagers have requested the Forest department several times to repair the decade-old elephant-proof trenches, but no action has been taken. So they themselves decided to deepen the trenches.

“We pooled money to hire earthmovers and deepen the trenches so that the elephants can be kept out,” said Kanthermani. “The elephants destroy banana trees to eat the central part and break coconut trees to get coconuts. We are losing sleep because of them,” said T Kanagaraj (37), a farmer from Anthiyur village.  “We have petitioned the Forest department for help,” he added.

Asked about it, Udumalai Range Officer C Dhanabalan said the Forest department staff have made efforts to chase the elephants back to the forest. “We have sent a proposal to dig new trenches to protect villages that elephants frequently enter and sought funds from the government.

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There are also plans to install electric fences with concrete pillars. The work will begin after getting orders from the higher officials,” he added. Dhanabalan also said that there would be no problem about the villagers deepening the existing trenches which have become shallow.

Chinna Thambi released into ATR

Coimbatore: A day after his capture, Chinna Thambi was successfully relocated to Varagaliyar in Ulanthi forest range in ATR in the wee hours on Saturday. The pachyderm was set free with the help of kumki Kaleem at 1.15 am near Nallar river in Varagaliyar reserve forest, around 125 km away from Coimbatore forest division