Coimbatore: Farmers have demanded the Tamil Nadu authorities to exert stress on the Union authorities to amend the Wildlife (Safety) Act, 1972, to guard harmless farmers from going through expenses below the Act.
Greater than 100 members from a number of farmer associations attended a gathering organised by the forest division within the metropolis on Monday to debate with the committee fashioned to check the mortality of untamed elephants within the final yr.
Further principal chief conservator of forests (working plan) I Anwardeen, working plan officer, Vellore, C H Padma, deputy conservator of forests J R Samartha, president of OSAI Okay Kalidasan, and district forest officer TK Ashok Kumar interacted with the farmers.
Through the interplay, state common secretary of Vivasayigal Sangam (non-communal, non-religious, non-political) P Kandasamy stated that the state authorities ought to give stress on the Union authorities to convey an modification to the Wildlife (Safety) Act in order that harmless farmers should not prosecuted below the Act when elephants are discovered useless on their land.
“The wild animals needs to be within the forest. However now we are able to see them in agricultural fields and human habitations. We don’t have any intention to kill wild elephants or another animal. If wild elephants are discovered useless in our agricultural discipline, the forest division mustn't think about this poaching. They need to think about this as an accident,” Kandasamy stated.
The forest division registers instances in opposition to farmers on the identical expenses that it invokes on poachers, he alleged. The forest division mustn't deal with the farmers as criminals.
R Vellingiri, a retired deputy superintendent of police, stated that ganja peddlers used to domesticate crops and preserve avuttukai (country-made bombs) contained in the reserve forest. The forest division has did not act in opposition to them, he alleged.
“The forest division ought to conduct a good investigation earlier than registering a case in opposition to a farmer below the Act,” Vellingiri stated. The committee additionally interacted with one other set of farmers who demanded the forest division strengthen its manpower and improve patrols throughout the boundaries.