Image credit : Illustrative Image

In the wake of rising man-animal conflicts, the State Government has given approval to the forest department to install CCTVs in human inhabited areas identified to be prone to elephant intrusion.

Monitoring of these cameras would help in not only keeping track of elephant intrusion, but also drive them back to forests before causing any damage to farms and lives. This will also help monitor the movement of vehicles.

“The CCTV will help us identify the speeding vehicles and so that action can be taken against erring drivers,” said a forest official.

The increasing incidence of man-elephant conflict in Coimbatore has raised the demand from activists and people for security. The divisional forest officer said, “CCTV’s will be installed at the Madhukarai and Anaikatti check posts and other places, except Chaadivayal. This will help us monitor the intrusion of wild elephants and drive them back to the forest. The government has given its nod and we will soon install the cameras.”

It is expected to give big relief to people living in such areas as they have been living under fear for quite long.

Activists, while welcoming the initiative, said, “The department should also come up with steps to prevent humans entering forests and mining resources, as this is the root cause for intrusion elephants into human habitats and causing damage.”