ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka plans to hire a 4,000 strong workforce to man electric fences built to keep elephants away from villages near forests, Minister of Wildlife and Natural Resources Conservation Pavithra Wanniarachchi said.
“We admit that we did not have the sufficient number of officers to repair damaged fences,” Minister Wanniarachchi told Parliament Thursday.
“That is why we are looking to recruit a new workforce of at least 4,000 multipurpose development officers to sort this out.”
She was responding to a question on action taken to provide a “permanent solution” to the human elephant confusion in the Puttalam District.
The entire approved cadre of the Department of Wildlife was 2,851 persons and the actual cadre was 1,941 according to its annual control report.
Sri Lanka was estimated to have around 7,000 elephants around the country based on a 2022 survey.
The workforce would also amount to about one man for 1.8 elephants.
“To minimise the threat of elephants in the Puttalam District, 20 electric fences have been erected with a total length of 350 kilometres,” Minister Wanniarachchi said.
“These fences are maintained with the help of multi-purpose development officers and civil defence servants under the Wildlife Department’s directions.”
If the entire 4,000 staff was deployed in Puttalam for the 350 kilometres of electric fencing, there would be one man for every 87.5 metres.
It was not clear whether 4,000 workers would be in addition to the existing multi-purpose development officers. (Colombo/June7/2024)