Naked overground electricity lines in the core and the buffer areas of Palamau tiger reserve are causing concern to wildlife lovers here, with even the insulated wires posing a big hazard to wildlife.

The state government has engaged an agency to carry out electrification work in the villages in and around the tiger reserve.

Sources said there are 194 villages in the area.

D.S. Srivastava, the secretary of Nature Conservation Society, an NGO, told this correspondent that naked overground electricity lines, weak electricity poles and sagging electricity wires in the tiger reserve are a hazard for the animals.

He said a 120km stretch of state highway number 9 passes through the reserve, as well as a 27km stretch of railway lines, besides the electric wires.

Srivastava said he has shot off a letter to the principal secretary, forest, environment and climate change department of Jharkhand, drawing his attention to the hazards.

He claimed there were naked electricity wires between Betla to Haratu, which is an elephant corridor.

He also claimed there are covered electricity wires between the Armu-Maromar stretch of the tiger reserve, but as the wires are loose and sagging, they also pose a threat.

Srivastava, in the letter, asked the principal secretary to ask the electricity officials of Latehar district, into which the tiger reserve falls, to set things in order here.

The deputy director, south division of the tiger reserve, Mukesh Kumar, said, “The wires and electricity poles are a major life threat to wildlife here in this park.”

Kumar added that there was a long stretch of wires at Cover Nullah in the reserve, which is a habitat for elephants here.

He said there were places in the south division here electricity wires are just two to three feet above the ground.

“An insulated overground wire is heavier than the naked wire. The distance between two electricity poles is such that an insulated wire is set to sag. I have been asking electricity officials to put in more poles but in vain,” he added.

An electricity official here said, “In rural areas, the normal distance between two electricity poles is 91 metres, which, in urban areas is 38 metres.”

He agreed that in locations like the tiger reserve where there are high trees, the distance between two electricity poles should be shortened to avoid sagging of wires.

Srivastava has also claimed that the electricity department is stretching its transmission lines without obtaining a no-objection certificate from the tiger reserve authorities.

Kumar said, “No certificate has been obtained from us and transmission work of the department is under way illegally.”