Karnataka to relocate 65 wild elephants from Hassan district, fix barricade to stop movement of tuskers
The Hindu
CM held meeting to discuss man-elephant conflict a day before his visit to Hassan district to attend Jan Sankalp rallies of the BJP
A day before the BJP’s Jan Sankalp rallies in Hassan district, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai announced that the Karnataka Government will relocate 65 wild elephants from the Alur-Sakleshpur-Belur region in a phased manner.
Mr. Bommai made this statement in Bengaluru on December 12 after chairing a meeting on the man-elephant conflict, which was attended by Minister for Excise K. Gopalaiah, who is in charge of Hassan district, Additional Chief Secretary Jawaid Akhtar, and Principal Secretary to the CM N. Manjunath.
The CM, former CM B.S. Yediyurappa and other leaders of the BJP are scheduled to take part in Jan Sankalp rallies of the BJP in Sakleshpur and Belur on December 13. Several organisations were planning to organise protests demanding a permanent solution to the conflict during the CM’s visit to Sakleshpur,
After the meeting, the CM said as per the report submitted by senior officers of the Forest Department, who visited elephant-affected areas in November, the Alur-Sakleshpur-Belur region is home to 65 wild elephants. “The elephants will be relocated in a phased manner and barricades would be placed to avoid entry of new elephants to the area,” he said.
The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) would work out a comprehensive plan for relocation of the elephants with the help of experts from Indian Institute of Science and local officials, among others. “A herd of eight elephants, which has been causing damage in Sakleshpur-Belur will be captured on a priority basis,” he said.
Besides that, the meeting decided to radio-collar lone tuskers so that their movement could be tracked. So far, radio-collars have been fixed on 23 elephants. The meeting decided to set up elephant camps at Kattepura in Hassan and Mudigere in Chikkamagaluru district to execute the work of capturing and relocating elephants.
At present, the department has completed installing a 9.7-km-long railway barricade. The work on another 11.5-km-long barricade along the backwaters of Hemavathi reservoir is in progress.