Wild boar menace: HC directive to TN govt, Centre

The Madras High Court today directed Tamil Nadu government and the Centre to file a counter by March 15 on a PIL by a social activist seeking to prevent the menace of wild boars in hilly areas of the state, especially in ghat sections in Kodaikanal.
The division bench, comprising Justices T S Sivagnanam and R Mala, gave the direction to Government Pleader S T S Moorthy and the Assistant Solicitor General.
Petitoner A R Gokulakrishnan also made the Union Secretary, Forest and Environment Ministry party to the issue.
He submitted that the wild boar is a major pest, affecting agricultural production in ghat areas in Tamil Nadu, particularly in Kodaikanal area, putting plantation growers and tribals to great difficulty.

Alleging that the findings of the Committee constituted by government to study the movements of wild boars were never made public, he said "swine plague spreads very quickly in wild boar with epizootics being recorded in Germany, Poland, Hungary, Belarus and Caucasus, the far East, Kazaksthan and other regions."
He submitted that foot and mouth disease can also take on epidemic proportions in boar population.

Gokulakrishan referred to various articles in English and Tamil dailies and submitted that farmers on an average spend Rs 8,000 to Rs 15,000 each season to save their crops.
He said the problem was prevalent in a huge stretch of hilly terrain from Bargur to Thalavadi in Erode District. Farmers wanted Tamil Nadu government to lift the restriction on killing wild boars like that done in Kerala, he said.

Gokulakrishnan alleged that the state government and the Forest and Enviornment Ministry had failed to secure farmers' crops from the menace of wild animals.
He said there was no response from the authorities to his representations of August 7 2015, Dec 28 2015 and December 4 2015 and sought a direction from the court to the authorities concerned to take all remedial measures to prevent the menace of wild boars.