The Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) revealed in Parliament yesterday (25) that though a total of Rs. 490 million had been spent on an electric fence in 2019 and 2020 to prevent human-elephant conflict, the human-elephant conflict has not yet been resolved.
The cost of constructing the electric fence in 2019 to prevent the human-elephant conflict is Rs.275,447,639 and the amount spent for this purpose in the year 2020 is Rs. 221,505,818. The total length of the electric fence constructed at this cost is 4,756 km.
However, as of March 23, 2021, 28 human deaths and 83 elephant deaths have been reported in Sri Lanka due to human-elephant conflict.
Chairman of the Committee Prof. Tissa Vitarana, State Ministers Dayasiri Jayasekara, Lasantha Alagiyawanna, Prasanna Ranaweera, Members of Parliament Tissa Attanayake, Niroshan Perera, Mohamed Muzammil, S. Sridharan, Dr. Upul Galappaththi, B.Y.G. Ratnasekera, Weerasumana Weerasinghe, Dr. Harini Amarasuriya and a group of government officials were present at the meeting.