Kendrapara, April 24: Authorities of the Bhitarkanika National Park have expanded the galvanised steel-net barricade cover to more forest-side villages in order to reduce man-animal conflict that has been prevalent in the area.

The barricade earlier used to cover an area of 10 kilometres. At present, work is in full swing to spread it out to 12km of the extended areas.

The objective is to stop intrusion of wild boars and spotted deer into places of human settlements lying near the national park.

"Resorting to coercive action is not the solution to man-animal conflict. Therefore, the forest department is intent on covering the forest-side villages with steel barricades, so that the intruding animals could be obstructed into human settlement areas," said Rajnagar Mangrove (wildlife) Forest Division officer Bimal Prasana Acharya.

The villages lying on the fringes of the park have of late encountered man-animal conflicts.

At least two wild boars were reported killed by local people in retaliation. Besides, cases have also been registered against the villagers under the Wildlife Protection Act.

The wild boar habitation corridors located near the villages are being brought under the barriers.

The purpose is to bring to a halt the movement of straying animals into the thickly populated villages near the forest area.

"Net barricades of galvanised steel materials, which would act as strong deterrent for the itinerant animals, are being installed in the 12-km long areas. The steel nets would cope with the salinised atmospheric climate and these would also be durable," said Acharya.

Five forest blocks coming under the division have been identified as boar-infested zones, where acts of trespass by the animals are pronounced.

In these areas, the barricade installation work has commenced.

Menace unleashed by wild boars had assumed alarming proportions during the crop-cutting season in the past years.

"These animals had put us in a spot of bother," said the divisional forest officer.

The mangrove forest cover within the sanctuary is home to thousands of wild boars, the plant eating herbivorous animals.

However, in the recent years, the sharp increase in population of these animals has emerged as a major cause of worry for the wildlife sanctuary officials.

With villages dotting the periphery of forest, man-wild boar conflict has reached a flashpoint.

Wild animals often stray into villages, eating up the crops and vegetable plants. What has compounded the woes is that the boars often go berserk at the sight of humans. In self-defence, boars have gone on assaulting the humans.

On October 18, 2013, a mob had torched the Gahirmatha marine forest range office in protest against the death of a local following wild boar attack.