PEACE CORRIDORS: Kansrau-Barkot Corridor: 2.5 x 2 km. Will connect Dehradun forest division and Rajaji National Park. Chilla Motichur Corridor: 3.5 x 1 km. National Highway Authority of India will build a flyover on the Haridwar-Delhi highway to allow free movement of elephants to the Ganges. Ravasan-Sonanadi Corridor: 10 x 5 km. Will provide access to elephant herds that move to and fro between Rajaji and Corbett National Park. Ravasan-Sonanadi Corridor: 45 x 7 km approximately. Though Uttarakhand shares it with Uttar Pradesh, increased disturbance has made it problematic. Motichur-Gohri Corridor: 4 x 1 km. South Patlidun-Chilakia Corridor: 3 x 5 km.

In the last two months, about half a dozen people have been killed and crops and property worth lakhs of rupees have been lost due to rampaging tuskers. In the six years of Uttarakhand's autonomous existence, 119 elephants have died, out of which 41 in accidents caused by the animals coming into areas of heavy traffic movement. Thirty-nine people have been killed and 31 injured by the tuskers in the same period. The deaths from man-elephant encounters have become so frequent that they have forced its way into the government's consciousness and policy. A move is now afoot to chalk out a more effective plan to prevent such hazardous encounters between the two species.

To enable both the beasts and men to move through the same territory without coming into contact with one another, the state Government has decided to build flyovers across the elephant corridors. Such corridors are already in existence in Africa and Australia but the Uttarakhand animal corridor flyovers are a first for India.

This flyover project is the only way in which the confrontation can be controlled. "The long-term survival of a large terrestrial mammal like the elephant depends on an unbroken continuity of forests that provide food, water and space. Human development in the form of highways, railways, canals, airstrips, ever-enlarging urban centres and industry, in addition to an ever-increasing demand for agricultural land, has resulted in an almost permanent loss of this continuous forest landscape," says S.K. Chandola, principal conservator of forests, Uttarakhand. "The greatest challenge before us, especially in a biologically diverse state like Uttarakhand, is to restore the connectivity between these fragmented forests and give them a semblance of a large forest," he added.

ELEPHANTINE PROBLEM

In last six years, heavy traffic killed 41 tuskers while 39 people were killed by the jumbos

Despite facing a large number of problems like poaching and the man-elephant conflict, the concept of the corridor plan couldn't really take off in India before this because the state machinery lacked the sensitivity that such a problem demands. Along with this there was a paucity of funds. It's only now that the state government has sanctioned exclusive funds for three of the 11 planned elephant corridors. The only animal corridors that exist in India are those meant for tigers because of their flagship status and the high-profile conservation movement.

The biggest question confronting forest and wildlife officials is whether the idea of having corridors for elephants would succeed: what if the elephants did not use the area demarcated for their movement? Experts, however, say that there is nothing to worry about. "We have already tested this and filmed the small culverts and over-bridges that are being used by the elephants to reach out to the remote forested areas," says Chandola. That said, this is why the government has decided to adopt a wait and watch policy and has granted funds for the construction of only three corridors.

ROAD TO SAFETY

The 11 proposed corridors are aimed at facilitating herd movements and minimising human-elephant conflict The government, as a wait and watch policy, intends to start with only three corridors initially.

Apart from this, agricultural activities and increasing population have shrunk the tuskers' habitat even though there has been a significant increase in their numbers. Moreover, the sugarcane cultivation in the region has intensified the man-elephant conflict. Tuskers love sugarcane so much that there have been instances when they have come out of the forest only to eat it, thereby damaging the crop. In order to ward them off from their fields, farmers use crackers and fire, which often upsets the animals.

The busy Delhi-Haridwar-Dehradun railway track has proved to be a curse for the elephants the proof of which is the fact that at least 20 elephants were killed on the track between 1987 and 2002. The state government has decided to tackle this by making the drivers more aware of the problem. "We have been sensitising and counselling the drivers to go slow while they are passing through the forest, but sometimes slowing or halting the train is dangerous for train traffic," says Chandola. Many drivers have been rewarded for saving elephants from being run over. Forest and railway officials have also started joint patrolling to avoid such accidents and have prevented many of them.

With the man-elephant conflict rising, wildlifers believe retro-fitting through de-fragmentation of the forest is the only way to check this menace. But the imponderables around the corridor project-availability of funds, impact on humans-remain. A worthy idea, it continues to lurch in the grey zone between planning and execution.

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