BANGALORE: Constructing elephant corridors around Mysore elephant reserve area, which is a big step towards preventing man–animal conflict, still seems to be a far-fetched idea. It will take much time, said BK Singh, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife).He said, “About six-seven elephant corridors have been identified in the Mysore elephant reserve area. Except two-three, constructing all others will take a lot of time.” He explained, “Besides the government land, which has to be obtained from the revenue department, the areas which have been identified for the elephant corridor also have human settlement and cultivation. Once we acquire these lands, it will lead to displacement of human settlements and their cultivation will be destroyed.” The areas identified for the elephant corridor, which falls under Mysore elephant reserve area, are around Lokenhalli in Kollegal, Chamrajnagar, Gundelpet Taluk and Virajpet in Coorg.Through the assistance of Wildlife Trust of India, recently Forest Department had acquired 25 acres of land for the corridor in Kollegal.Singh said, “In the Kannanpur area near Bandipur there are some issues going on. We have given the details to the Deputy Commissioner of Chamrajnagar District, he is working on it.” The government had earlier proposed policy to connect fragmented elephant corridors and declare them as protected areas.Karnataka’s forests are home to 20 percent of the elephant population in the country - about 5,800 Asiatic elephants occupy about 8,000 sq km in the state.There are nearly 8 lakh hectares of elephant reserves in the districts of Chamarajanagar, Mysore, Hassan, Kodagu and Ramanagaram falling under Mysore elephant reserve area.Figures from the State Forest Department state that the number of deaths across the State due to man-animal conflict was 29 in 2010-11, 33 during 2009-10 and 40 in 2008-09, of which majority are related to human-elephant conflict.
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