Raman Sukumar, in short, is the elephant man of India. An authority on Asian elephants, Dr. Sukumar spent a good part of his life-10 years- studying elephants, with special emphasis on man-animal conflict. And, Sathyamangalam forest was his area of study.
At present, he is the professor and chairman of the Centre for Ecological Sciences at Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. His research interests include wildlife ecology, tropical forest ecology and climate change.
He tells Karthik Madhavan that the proposed railway line between Chamarajanagar in Karnataka and Sathyamangalam will spell a doom for elephants.
“The railway line, like knife slicing through cake, will fragment one of the most important elephant habitats in the country, besides destroying the forest.”
The Nilgris and Sathyamangalam forests that form the eastern range of the Eastern Ghats is one the important habitats for Asian elephants, and has got a good congregation of elephants.
A part of this forest is slowly getting fragmented, thereby limiting elephant movement, which is worrisome.
The author of Elephant Days and Nights, based on his 10 years’ experience in the wild, points out that elephants need about 1,000 sq.km a year to move around and the proposed railway line will only accentuate the problem of fragmentation. This will only increase man-animal conflict, he adds.
Not only will the railway line destroy the elephant habitat but also directly endanger the animal.
“We have had umpteen reports pointing to trains running over elephants in West Bengal, Assam and other Northeastern States, where railway lines pass through elephant habitats.”
That apart, when the railway line passes through the forest, other development activities will follow suit, affecting wildlife.
The recipient of International Cosmos Prize 2006 says he had had a chance to see a draft of the proposal in 1982-83, while pursuing his research, and that the proposed line passed through Moyar River Valley.
River source
“Besides affecting the elephant, wildlife and forest, the railway line will also destroy the river source,” he says and adds that he had written against the project in his Ph.D thesis as well.
On Government’s efforts to protect elephants, he says the vision is good but implementation tardy. “We need a long-term vision with a focus.
Assets like elephant corridors should be created, so that man-animal conflict is reduced.”
