Megamalai forest now a sanctuary, to be expanded

Declaring 140 sq km of reserve forest in Megamalai in Theni district as a wildlife sanctuary, the government is in the final stages of reclassifying nearly 300 sq km of reserve land under forest department as reserve forests to be part of the newly created sanctuary.
According to forest officials, the reserve forest stretch from Erasanayakkanur on the side of Suruli falls to and Mel Gudalur on the Kumuli hills has been declared as Megamalai wildlife sanctuary, which would be contiguous with Periyar Tiger Reserve across the border in Kerala.
Megamalai is home to a rich diversity of flora and fauna — resident and migratory elephants are a common sight; direct sighting of tigers was reported in the Vellimalai forests in the census this year; it’s home to panthers, leopards, sloth bears, slender loris, Lion-tailed macaque (LTM) and the Nilgiri Tahr, the state animal, in the upper reaches of the ranges, say foresters.
While wildlife activists are thrilled to have a new sanctuary, they also want over 300 sq km of reserve land in Megamalai and Highways divisions in the Theni district forests to be declared part of the sanctuary. “Conservation will get a real boost only when the reserve lands are classified as reserve forests and made part of the
sanctuary,” says T S Subramaniaraja of Wildlife Association of Rajapalayam.
“After the reclassification and notification, Megamalai sanctuary would link the Srivilliputhur Grizzled Squirrel Sanctuary and Periyar Tiger Reserve enabling easy movement of wildlife in an expanded and protected landscape of about 1750 sq km of contiguous forests which could later become a biosphere ecosystem,” Subramaniaraja says. The state’s forests are already part of the Nilgiris biosphere and Agasthiyarmalai biosphere. “The Megamalai and Highways divisions, comprising reserve land, are the core habitat for wildlife. A recent study revealed the presence of at least 264 LTMs. Nilgiri Tahr was sighted in large groups in at least four peaks,” says Dr C P Rajkumar, managing trustee, Vanam, an eco-NGO based in Theni town. The deer population is also abundant. Sambar, mouse deer, barking deer and spotted deer are found in the region. “This is a critical habitat for lesser fauna. There is no point in leaving out these two divisions as there would always be a disconnect between Periyar and Srivilliputhur sanctuaries,” Rajkumar notes.
Ironically, the government has been sitting on the file to convert the reserve land in the two divisions into reserved forests (so that it could be declared as a sanctuary) for over eight years. “The government does not have the will power to remove a few villages that have encroached into the land due to vote bank politics,” says a senior forest official. Forest officials said the presence of humans in the forest land has led to stray incidents of poaching.
When contacted, senior forest officials said the government was in the final stages reclassifying reserve land in Megamalai as reserve forests to make it part of the newly created sanctuary.