Alleging that forest officials have failed to take necessary measures despite the increasing menace of wild elephants in Kodagu district, the Kodagu district unit of the BJP staged a protest and laid siege to the Aranya Bhavan (Forest Department Office) in Madikeri.
Following the death of a migrant worker in a wild elephant attack at Ghattadalla village in Maldare near Siddapur on Monday morning, Kodagu BJP district president Napanda Ravi Kalappa, former Legislative Assembly Speaker K.G. Bopaiah, party office-bearers and workers staged a protest and expressed strong resentment over the issue.
The protesters attempted to enter the Department office after removing the barricades erected by the police. The police struggled to prevent them from entering the office, resulting in a scuffle between the police and BJP workers. Additional police personnel were summoned to the spot as the situation threatened to escalate.
Chief Conservator of Forests Sonal Vrishni, who arrived at the protest site, faced strong criticism from the protesters. They questioned the purpose of bringing the body of the worker who died in Maldare to Madikeri. They also demanded that the forest officials either take effective measures to prevent human-elephant conflict or resign or seek a transfer out of Kodagu if they were unable to tackle the issue.
Kodagu BJP district president Napanda Ravi Kalappa said those who had failed to prevent elephant attacks were seeking police assistance to suppress public protests. He expressed serious concern that the menace of wild elephants was currently being witnessed across the district and had resulted in several deaths.
Former Legislative Assembly Speaker K.G. Bopaiah said that following the wild elephant attack incident at Yadavanadu, the Forest Department had announced that the elephants would be relocated from Kodagu to some other place. However, no efforts had been made in this regard so far, he alleged. He demanded that the officials explain the reasons for the delay and the difficulties being faced by the department.
BJP Mahila Morcha district president Anita Poovaiah said that a student had died in a wild elephant attack at Bettathur just a year ago. She alleged that the failure of the Forest Department to wake up and take necessary measures at that stage had allowed the problem to become more serious and resulted in an increase in loss of life.
Addressing the protesters, Chief Conservator of Forests Sonal Vrishni said efforts would be made to consult senior officials of the department and convene a meeting on August 22. She also said an operation to capture three wild elephants would begin soon.
She said work would be undertaken to install an eight-kilometre railway barricade to prevent wild elephant movement. A detailed project report has also been prepared to extend the barricading work by another eight kilometres.
Of the 560 villages in the district, 340 are affected by wild elephant menace, she said, adding that necessary mapping would be carried out and a plan formulated to address the problem.
She further informed that a project had been taken up to cultivate bamboo, which serves as a food source for wild elephants, across an area of around 200 hectares.
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