Hunt for alternative land for Govt. Horticulture Farm obstructing Kallar elephant corridor reaches nowhere

Nearly ten months after a decision was taken to relocate the State Horticulture Farm at Kallar near Mettupalayam in Coimbatore district, as part of securing the Jaccanaire - Hulikal Durgam elephant corridor aka Kallar corridor, the hunt for an alternative land has reached nowhere.

Nearly ten months after a decision was taken to relocate the State Horticulture Farm at Kallar near Mettupalayam in Coimbatore district, as part of securing the Jaccanaire - Hulikal Durgam elephant corridor aka Kallar corridor, the hunt for an alternative land has reached nowhere. Officials with the Forest Department said that Departments concerned could not find a suitable location for the relocation of the 122-year-old heritage farm which is located on the side of the busy Mettupalayam–Udhagamandalam Road. Though the Forest Department suggested a few places for the relocation of the farm, the Horticulture Department did not find the terrain and climatic conditions conducive for the plants and tree varieties that are grown in Kallar at the foothills of the Nilgiris, they said. The search for an alternative location for the 22-acre horticulture farm began based on an order from the Madras High Court while hearing a set of petitions related to elephant corridors in Tamil Nadu. The Forest Department suggested Chennamalai Karadu, a hillock, another land near Sirumugai, both falling under the Sirumugai forest range, for the relocation of the farm. However, the Horticulture Department did not find these places suitable. “Though a patch of land at Chelmsford on the way from Kallar to Coonoor was checked for feasibility, the place could not be chosen as it was notified under the Tamil Nadu Preservation of Private Forests Act, 1949,” said Conservator of Forests S. Ramasubramanian. Coimbatore District Collector Kranthi Kumar Pati said if the Department concerned has asked for the land, based on the requirement the Revenue Department will see if suitable land is available. “Several studies and research reports in the past, including ‘Right of Passage: Elephant corridors of India’, have identified the criticality of the Kallar corridor for the movement of elephants. The honorable High Court of Madras, too, has recognised the importance of preserving the connectivity of Kallar and has ordered relocation of the state-run horticultural garden. We believe that the government is well seized of the matter and is taking all necessary steps to relocate the horticulture garden to a suitable location on an urgent basis”, said D. Boominathan, Landscape Coordinator, Western Ghats Nilgiris Landscape, WWF-India. The Kallar corridor connects the Brahmagiri–Nilgiris–Eastern Ghats elephant population range with the Nilambur-Silent Valley–Coimbatore population range. Vehicular traffic on Mettupalayam-Udhagamandalam Road, which crisscrosses the corridor, is another major disruption to free movement of elephants through the pachyderm pathway.  In June 2021, then Coimbatore District Collector S. Nagarajan declared 50.79 hectares of private land in the Kallar elephant corridor area as private forest under the Tamil Nadu Preservation of Private Forests Act.

Started as a centre for germplasm, the farm established in 1900 has a collection of rare plants and fruit-bearing trees such as durian, kiwi, mangosteen, avocado, lichi, rambutan, jackfruits, areca nut and nutmeg.