Construction work on 26 electric fences come to a standstill

Wildlife and Forest Resources Conservation Ministry sources said that work on 26 electric fences that were to be put up in 2022 to stop wild elephants from encroaching into villages have come to a standstill due to protests staged by villagers' against officials involved in the construction of the electric fences.

Ministry Secretary Chandra Herath disclosed these facts when Wildlife and Forest Resources Conservation Minister Mahinda Amaraweera inquired about the progress of work on the construction of the electric fence project.

The Secretary also said that the total distance covered under these 26 electric fence projects is 315 kilometres.

This includes many districts where the human-elephant conflict is rampant, such as, Hambantota, Ratnapura, Trincomalee, Monaragala, Vavuniya, Mullaitivu, Mannar, Batticaloa, and Kurunegala are the districts that belong to it.

In addition, 125 electric fence projects were planned to be implemented in 2022, and the total length covered by them is 1559.9 km. Seven projects including 121.5 km have been completed this year. Another 33 are already under construction and its length is 263.06 km.

However, in order to stop the human-elephant conflict, Minister Mahinda Amaraweera pointed out the need to free the 16 elephant corridors in the island and implement at least two barriers to prevent wild elephants from entering the village.