Sambalpur: Amid sporadic reports of elephant casualties across the state for various reasons, good news has come for the environmentalists and wildlife conservationists.
The work on the fourth elephant corridor in the state has started here. The state government has sanctioned Rs 108 crore for the ambitious project aimed at ensuring safety of the wildlife including elephants in western Odisha.
TP Western Odisha Distribution Limited (TPWODL) has also allocated Rs 105 crore to carry out overhead electrification work in forested pockets so as to ensure safe passage and movements of elephants.
The work will be completed by March 2022. For the safety of wild animals, elephants and their movement in Western Odisha, TPWODL has started installing the high utility poles in 59 out of 84 sections.
These areas have been identified as strategic spots where elephants have hectic movements. In many cases, elephants die after coming in close contact with loosely hanging electricity wires in forested pockets.
In the 59 sections of the TPWODL, there is a plan to install 730 poles of 33- KV, 18,300 poles of 11-KV and 6,000 LTline poles.
As part of this project, aerial bundled insulated (AB) cables with a distance of 470 km will be drawn up overhead so as to ward off electrocution accidents. It was learnt that such work has been in progress in Naktideul and Jujumara forest areas with the help of forest officials.
According to sources, about 150 elephants are in Naktideul and Jujumara areas. The TPWDOL and the forest officials by using GPS have identified the elephant movement route and installed 9-metre high utility poles. There are around 230 poles to be set up in Jujumara and 30 in Naktideul.
PNN
