Fifty-three people lost their lives during elephant encounters in the Valparai plateau in the past 30 years. Nearly 70% were tea estate workers and other locals who died due to poor security and sanitation facilities or by ignoring warnings, says Anand Kumar, Senior Scientist at the Nature Conservation Foundation. “Added to this are deaths from encounters with leopards, sloth bears, and Indian gaur.”
A recent circular from the forest department seems a step in the right direction. It states that tea estates in areas including the Anamalai Tiger Reserve and Chinnakallar in Valparai have been handed over to the Manampalli forest department. The areas are now designated reserve forests, with no human habitats or movement allowed unless supervised by the forest department.
Valparai, situated in the middle of the Anamalai hills, is home to the second-largest Asian elephant population in India, says Anand. “It was the British who turned the rainforests first into cardamom and later coffee and tea plantations. This move from the forest department to turn the estates back to forests will reduce human-wildlife conflict.”
While mitigating human-animal conflict is a long-term goal, the main reason for the move, says K Giridharan, forest officer at Manampalli, is the acute shortage of workers in tea estates managed by the Tamil Nadu Tea Plantation Corporation (Tantea). “Tantea has handed over 1,200 acres of the original 2,500 hectares in Valparai to the forest department. Most tea workers are on the verge of retirement, and their children are no longer interested in the profession.”
Against the original 15,000 workers, there are only about 2,000 today, and large areas of plantations were rendered useless after tea plants got overgrown. These workers will be shifted to other estates soon, says Giridhar.
In Chinnakallar, one of the hotspots of human-animal conflict, there was a post office and a check post for just four houses. “All will be shifted to a more habitable area,” says Giridhar. “It’s difficult to protect such a small group of people living in an area populated by elephants and bears. It’s more feasible to relocate the people. This way, the animals can move freely. In the past, the focus was on productivity over protection, but now the govt is looking at protection over productivity.”
Chinnakallar will be open to tourists only on weekends, with certain conditions. MSID:: 118740299 413 |