Sambalpur: Even though crores of rupees have been spent on solar fencing in forested areas of Sambalpur over last five years, these efforts by the forest department have served no purpose due to substandard work, a report said.
According to the report, man-animal conflict is usually a perennial problem in forested pockets. People live in fear as elephants often stray out of forests into human habitations and cause loss of lives and properties.
In order to alleviate the conflict, the forest department executed solar fencing around forested areas, particularly where elephant movement was quite active in 2015.
As per the scheme, strong poles along with wires were to be installed along forest borders while they are to be charged with solar power in the evenings. When animals come in contact with charged wires, they get mild electric shock and return to forests.
Several such solar-fencing projects have been implemented in the last five years while over Rs 10 crore has been spent for them. At some places, wires of the fencing projects have snapped while at others fencing has completely collapsed.
Locals alleged that money spent on these projects had gone down the drain. A case in point is the solar fencing near Barle village under Sambalpur range where the department raised solar fencing for about 5 km along forest borders by spending lakhs of rupees.
People in the locality, however, said that when the project was done a year ago, people expected that life and properties could be safeguarded by the solar fencing.
But the fencing has caved in, making the villages vulnerable to elephant depredation again, they lamented. They alleged that the agencies picked up by the forest department had botched up the work inside the forest.
“Quality of the work has been compromised and commission has been shared. Such projects are awarded to agencies willing to pay commission,” they alleged. On the other hand, Sambalpur DFO Dr Sanjit Kumar said the department will repair the solar fencing wherever it was damaged.
“The contractor concerned has been directed to repair the work. Contractual agency usually guarantees about its work. Stern action will be taken against him if he fails to repair the fencing. All ACFs and range officers have been told to submit status report about the fencing projects,” the DFO added.
At many places, elephants have uprooted fencing poles while at other places, people have pulled down the fencing to facilitate entry into forests, the DFO explained.
PNN
