Yaduveer Wadiyar Requests Action on Elephant-Human Conflict in Kodagu

In his letter, Wadiyar highlights the severe impact that the conflict has on farmers, laborers, and the overall agricultural output.

New Delhi: Kodagu-Mysuru MP Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar has written a letter to Bhupendra Yadav, Minister for Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, seeking intervention in the ongoing issue of elephant-human conflict in Kodagu.

The district has been grappling with frequent incidents where elephants invade coffee estates and agricultural lands, resulting in severe injuries, deaths, and significant crop damage.

In his letter, Wadiyar highlights the severe impact that the conflict has on farmers, laborers, and the overall agricultural output. He mentions that weekly reports of attacks by elephants in the area have led to injuries and deaths, adding to the existing fears among people who work in agricultural sectors.

Wadiyar points out that current measures taken by the forest department, while commendable, are mostly reactive and fail to prevent elephants from entering farmlands. To address this, he suggests implementing railway barricading along the border of forests and agricultural lands. Citing railway barricading as a successful method for restricting elephant movement, Wadiyar stresses the necessity of employing this approach on a larger scale.

He notes that the cost for barricading one kilometer ranges between Rs. 1.3 to 1.5 crore. The forest border in his constituency spans over 400 km, with approximately 280 km requiring immediate action. The estimated total cost for this exercise is Rs. 350-400 crore. However, he proposes an alternative: requesting the Ministry of Railways to provide railway lines to be used for creating a barrier, thus limiting the project costs to labor expenses alone.

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