Residents of 19 tribal settlements coming under 24 Veerapandi panchayat are in constant fear of encounter with wild elephants with the large mammals frequently straying from forests in search of water and fodder.
Tribal welfare workers from the region allege that Forest Department is not regularly replenishing the artificial waterholes in the forests to prevent wild elephants from straying into human settlements.
According to them, four persons from tribal settlements from 24 Veerapandi panchayat were killed in conflicts with wild animals since January this year. While three persons were trampled to death by wild elephants, one person was killed in the attack of a gaur.
J.M. Murugavel, president of South Indian Tribal Movement told The Hindu that the Forest Department was not filling the troughs inside forests due to which wild animals, especially elephants, were increasingly straying into tribal settlements and villages in the summer.
“As tribal settlements are located inside forests and fringe areas, the residents are the ones who bear the brunt of human-elephant conflict. All the settlements are witnessing movement of elephants as there is no source of water inside forests in summer.
“The Department should create more troughs inside the forest and fill them regularly to ease the conflict situation,” he said.
Latest in the list of victims, an 80-year-old woman from Kondanur Pudur tribal settlement was trampled to death by a herd of elephants on May, 8 when she had gone out in the open to attend nature's call.
A resident from Kandivazhi tribal settlement said that people were avoiding journey to and fro the settlement in the early morning and evening in fear of the movement of elephants.
Joshua G.P.N., a social worker from Anaikatti, said that incidents of elephants crossing the busy Coimbatore-Anaikatti road were high this year as a trough inside the reserve forest opposite to a brick kiln was not maintained by the Department.
“Land owner from a nearby plot used to supply water to the trough free of cost. But the trough is remaining dry this year as the Department did not repair the pipeline which has a block,” he said.
With water not available in the trough, elephants and other animals are now forced to cross the busy road to reach the water tank outside the forest.
Buildings
Mr. Murugavel added that some of the buildings constructed in the recent past in Anaikatti area were blocking the traditional paths of elephants forcing them to chose new paths.