The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently sought a report from the state forest department to a public interest litigation (PIL) petition.
The petition seeks direction from authorities to trench & solar fencing near forest boundaries in Kadayam, Courtallam, and Kadayanallur in order to prevent wild animals from entering villages areas and protect villagers and crops from wild animal attacks.
A bench comprising Justices Subramanian and Victoria Gowri issued notices to the concerned authorities and directed them to file their report by April 10 the next hearing to a filed by Vincent, president of a Farmer Producer’s Group in the Tirunelveli district.
The petitioner stated that “The people of this area mainly rely on agriculture for their livelihood. Their major agricultural products include rice, coconut, mango, banana, and sugarcane.
However, these areas face human-wildlife conflicts, which have increased recently. With both people and crops vulnerable to attacks by wild animals, mainly elephants, wild boars, and bears so villagers have lost their livelihoods or become permanently disabled, villagers were fed up demanding compensation for crop damage and money to treat injuries caused by livestock.”
Further, the petitioner said that despite several representations made to the concerned authorities, no action was taken.
