Proposals for minimising human-elephant conflict and lantana removal for which funds have been earmarked under separate heads in the State Budget 2019-20, have been received with caution by wildlife activists.
The budget has earmarked ₹100 crore for laying 200 km of rail barriers during 2019-20 and proposes to spend ₹621 crore to lay 520 km spread over three years. Similarly, ₹5 crore has been earmarked for removing lantana and epatorium in forests.
While there is a broad concurrence that additional funding will augur well for resolving issues, activists have called for ecological evaluation of the work in progress on both counts so far. “The railway track fence and lantana removal are not new and the need of the hour is to carry out an ecological evaluation and the impact of the work completed so far,” said a wildlife activist on conditions of anonymity. He said the government conducts financial evaluation of the amount spent but there is hardly any kind of ecological evaluation to ascertain whether the issue has been resolved.
Also, activists point out that there are examples where physical barriers – like a rail track fence, solar fence or trenches – are being created on the boundaries of the national parks and wildlife sanctuaries abutting reserved forests.
“Ecologically, both reserve forests and wildlife sanctuaries are the same and animals move freely. But by putting such barriers they are restricting the movement of animals from sanctuary to reserve forests as is between BRT Wildlife Sanctuary and MM Hills or at Bhadra,” said the activists.
They also called for redesigning the railway track fence by increasing the height so as to prevent adult elephants from trying to jump over – as in the case of a wild tusker which was left dangling and died in the process in December.
Lantana removal
K.S. Sudheer, an advocate and representative of Voice for Wildlife, said lantana removal by uprooting was part of the forest management practice all these years and not something new. Given the extent of the problem, ₹5 crore is inadequate, he added.
The Voice for Wildlife had submitted a lantana removal and extraction plan for BRT Wildlife Sancutary which entailed an expenditure of nearly ₹420 crore to be spread over 20 years that underlines the immensity of the problem.
“Given the scale and magnitude of the problem, the amount is meagre but a welcome development because all these years there was no separate head under which funds could be sanctioned for lantana removal. This marks a departure from it and sets a precedent,” he added.