Madikeri: Anger over the State Government’s failure to check the growing human-elephant conflict in Kodagu spilt onto the streets yesterday with District BJP leaders and workers staging a protest at the Forest Department Office in Madikeri, demanding immediate action.

By noon, BJP leaders and workers had gathered at the Aranya Bhavan, raising slogans against the Forest Department.

District BJP President Napanda Ravi Kalappa, former MLA K.G. Bopaiah and former Western Ghats Task Force Chairman Shantheyanda Ravi Kushalappa led the agitation. Protesters attempted to enter the Office of the Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF), but the Police erected barricades and deployed heavy security.

A scuffle broke out when protesters tried to pull down the barricades, leading to heated exchanges between them and the Police.

Protesters confronted Kodagu Circle CCF Sonal Vrishni, demanding an explanation. She assured them that a meeting with senior officials would be convened on Aug. 22. She said operations were underway to capture three elephants and that an 8-km railway barricade was being installed to prevent elephant movement, with plans to extend it further.

Mapping of affected villages was also being carried out, she said, adding that 340 of Kodagu’s 560 villages face elephant incursions. A bamboo cultivation project covering 200 hectares has also been initiated to provide food for elephants within forest areas, she added.