COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore forest division has become bigger by 1,049.74 hectares, with district collector S Nagarajan declaring the parcels of revenue department land abutting the reserve forest in Mettupalayam, Anaimalai and Pollachi taluks as the reserve land.
With this, the forest cover in the Coimbatore division has increased to 1,23,264.87 hectares from 1,22,215.13 hectares.
Forest minister K Ramachandran has appreciated the collector and forest officials for increasing the forest cover in the division to protect the passage of wild animals.
Earlier, district forest officer (DFO) D Venkatesh and team had collected details of the revenue department land adjacent to the reserve forest at Kemmampalayam, Karamadai, Tholampalayam and Maruthur in Mettupalayam taluk, Odayakulam in Anaimalai taluk, and Zamin Uthukuli in Pollachi taluk and submitted the same before the district collector a few days ago with a request to declare them as the reserve land.
“They had identified 1,049.74 hectares, of which just 2.02 hectares belonged to the forest department and the remaining to the revenue department,” a source privy to the development said.
The collector subsequently declared the 1,049.74 hectares as the reserve land under Section 26 of the Tamil Nadu Forest Act, 1882, on Tuesday.
Of the 1,049.74 hectares, 817.05 hectares is located at Maruthur village in Mettupalayam taluk.
It is the single largest land parcel to be declared as the reserve land.
The DFO said, “People cannot cut trees from the reserve land.
Poaching animals is also prohibited and those involve in the offence will be booked under the wildlife protection act.” Pointing out that they had booked a few people for using country made explosives (avuttukkai) to hunt wild animals in Kattanjimalai area, he said such incidents would be prevented, as the place now falls under the reserve land, where regular patrolling would be done.
Venkatesh said the collector had also declared 50.79 hectares of private land in the Kallar elephant corridor as the private forest under the Tamil Nadu Preservation of Private Forest Act, 1949, on Tuesday.
“This is the first elephant corridor in the state to be brought under the private forest act.
The move will help preserve the most critical elephant corridor in the state.
The landowner can enjoy the property, but cannot undertake any development work without obtaining permission from the forest department.
The landowner also cannot fell the trees,” the DFO said.
D Boominathan, landscape coordinator, district chapter of WWF-India, welcomed the move.
“Kallar is a crucial elephant corridor, as it is the only link between the southern Coimbatore and the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve.
The corridor is connected by private lands, which are subject to development.
Recognizing the area as sensitive and providing it legal protection will do a lot of good.”