Kozhikode: The increasing human-animal conflict in Wayanad is triggering off recurring conflicts between forest staff and farmers. The forest department is now walling off the human habitats with granite barricades. The trial phase of 12 kilometres in South Wayanad Forest Division is almost complete.
Moves are also on to set up rail fencing along the border apart from power fencing and digging deep trenches wherever the construction of the wall is not easy.
The longest granite wall in the state, 3.5 kilometres, is nearing completion at the Chethalayam forest range of South Wayanad.
The Rs 16-crore project executed by the Kerala Police Housing and Construction Corporation (KPHCC) cover the 12-kilometre border on the fringes to keep wild animals away.
The Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary has also submitted a project to construct rail fencing in eight kilometres.
The walls are 1.9-metre tall and 1.20 metre wide. The length of walls would vary from 100 metres to 3.5 km depending on the topography. The 3.5 km granite wall from Maramala to Koodallur is the longest.
Chethalayam Forest Range Officer Sajikumar Rayaroth told DC that except 650 meters the entire wall construction under the forest division is over. On the impact of the granite wall, he said there was a significant decrease in the wildlife attacks and crop raids.
“The work got delayed due to the shortage of granite,” he said.
The forest department has already partitioned the human and wildlife habitats by constructing a 120-km trench and 60-km electric fence under the range.
Kurichiad range officer Ajit K Raman told DC that the rail fencing to check wildlife had been used successfully in Rajaji National Park in Karnataka.
“If used tracks are available, the cost for a kilometre would be around Rs 3.5 lakh," he said.
“We are awaiting the green signal from the state government.”
