Spent about Rs. 490 m for electric fence; The conflict between humans and elephants continues unabated

• The Parliamentary Committee notes that in 2019 and 2020, money was spent building a 4,756 km electric fence
• The death toll remains high: 28 people and 83 elephants have been killed in the past two years

A sum of Rs. 490 million was spent on building electric fences in 2019 and 2020 to prevent human-elephant conflict. However, despite efforts to reduce the conflict, the problem has continued unabated. This was announced at a meeting of the Public Finance Committee (COPA). .

The cost of building the electric fence in 2019 was over Rs. 275 million, while in 2020 a sum of Rs. 221 was spent for the purpose. The total length of the electric fence built at this cost is 4,756 km.

However, as of March 23, 28 human deaths and 83 elephant deaths were reported in Sri Lanka due to conflict between humans and elephants, the committee said.

Committee Chairman MP Tissa Vitarana, Minister of State Dayasiri Jayasekara, Lasantha Alagiyawanna, Prasanna Ranaweera, MPs Tissa Attanayake, Niroshan Perera, Mohamed Muzammil, S. Sridharan, Dr. Upul Galappaththi, BYG Ratnasekera, Weerasumana Weerasinghe, Dr. Harini Amarasuriya and a group of government officials attended the meeting.