Works on the 8 km stretch at a cost of Rs. 11.60 crore to begin soon: MLA

Nanjangud: The works on the installation of rail barricades on the 8 km stretch at a cost of Rs. 11.60 crore will commence soon to prevent wild animals from entering villages in forest borders of Hediyala and Omkar Ranges, said Nanjangud MLA Darshan Dhruvanarayan.

He was speaking to media persons after inspecting the spot along with Forest officials, where the works would commence and later held discussions with farmers and heard their grievances recently.

“Several complaints were given by the farmers of forest border villages in Omkar Range about wild elephants damaging their crops. Following this, I had submitted a memorandum to Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre, urging him to solve the problems. A few months ago, Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre visited Hediyala and Omkar Ranges and had assured of releasing grants to solve the problems. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has released the funds for the installation of rail barricades for the 8 km stretch which will help the farmers of Maduvinahalli, Hancheepura, Kallipura, Kothanahalli, Siddegowdanahundi, Channapatna and Kasuvinahalli besides preventing man-animal conflicts,” said the MLA.

Continuing, he said that the though barricades have been installed in Hediyala Forest limits, there were complaints of wild animals sneaking between the barricades and destroying standing crops. Hence to provide a permanent solution to it, iron rods were fixed between the barricades in 1.5 km stretch and wire mesh fixed to the iron rods which has prevented the menace of                                                            wild animals.

With the completion of the proposed 8 km rail barricade installation using new technology, the entire region in forest borders will be completed he said and thanked the CM Siddaramaiah and Forest Minister on behalf of the farmers.

Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF) Suresh, who also spoke, said that a large area of forest land has been encroached upon and the works will be taken up only after clearing the encroachments to which MLA Darshan said that conducting a joint survey by the Revenue and Forest Departments to clear encroachments would take a lot of time which would cause problems to the farmers and instructed the ACF to commence the installation of rail barricades to prevent the menace                                                              of wild animals. 

Former MLA Kalale N. Keshavamurthy, Taluk Guarantees Implementation Committee President Maruthi, Taluk Panchayat former President Nagesh Raj, leaders Jaishankar, Range Forest Officers and others were present on the occasion.