With little progress being made on proposals to install solar fencing and ditches, farmers in Chippilithode and Maruthavu areas of Puthuppadi panchayat in Kozhikode have been left to fend for themselves as wild elephant attacks continue unabated. Farmers living in villages in the highlands said there were six aggressive elephants who often strayed into human settlements and looted farms.
A family recently left Chipplithode, unable to manage the immense distress and financial loss. About 10 other families who own several hectares of cultivated land are also on the verge of being shifted to safer areas. He claimed that there has been no response from the authorities so far on the demand to capture the aggressive elephants.
“It is not easy to leave these cultivated fields with food and cash crops. The problem can be solved very easily by erecting powerful solar fences or trenches around sensitive areas. There should be better initiative from the forest department,” said an elderly farmer from Maruthavu.
According to local panchayat officials, public representatives have taken up the matter with the forest department for action. He said that in some difficult areas, electric fencing alone and digging trenches would not be a practical solution.
“Apart from crop loss, elephants are also destroying potable water supply pipelines and other facilities. In the absence of any practical preventive measure from the forest department, encroachment is likely to increase,” said a panchayat member from Puthupady. He said that the demand of farmers for better compensation is justified and it should be considered on priority.
Sources in the Forest Department said deployment of additional watchmen in sensitive areas would be considered to ensure security as per the demand of human settlements and cultivated fields. He said that the department has already reviewed the situation at the field level on the basis of complaints and demands of public representatives for better compensation.