Kamanthi Wickramasinghe in The Daily Mirror, March 2026 … where the headline is different.
Unlike sky rise buildings that dominate the skyline in Colombo, it is electric fences of various shapes and sizes that dominate much of the landscape in Galgamuwa today. With frequently occurring encounters between humans and elephants, the former is taking all precautions to protect their lives and those of their loved ones, sometimes at the cost of jumbo lives.
In response to the aggravating conflict, the construction of Sri Lanka’s first elephant underpass was proposed in March 2024. After many setbacks and delays, project proponents opine that construction work would be completed this month. But according to experts, the underpass and elephant movements need to be studied for several more years prior to determining its effectiveness.
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| Madurawathi |
How HEC aggravated in Galgamuwa
Galgamuwa is part of the Mahaweli Development Programme, believed to be the largest multipurpose national development programme in the country. The project envisioned the development of 365,000 hectares of land in the dry zone of Sri Lanka for agriculture purposes. It also intended to develop new settlements, reservoirs and hydro electric plants and develop a larger area for irrigation purposes. But in 1977, when the Accelerated Mahaweli Development Scheme was launched, vast extents of forest lands were logged to facilitate new settlements.
Madurawathi is originally from Kadugannawa but had settled in Galgamuwa back in 1977. “This area is known as the Mahaweli H Zone. Back then we didn’t encounter a conflict with elephants because there was enough food for them. They would even come to our backyard, feed on banana trees but they didn’t do a lot of damage. But now the situation is different because new settlers are not used to elephants coming to their backyards, and there’s a lot of retaliatory action,” she said.
Construction underway at the wildlife underpass
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| R. M. J. Bandara |
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| Sumith Pilapitiya |
She said that farming practices too have changed over the years where farmers now don’t leave the ipanella (Sinhala term for remaining paddy after harvesting season ends) for animals to feed on.
“Now, farmers burn the paddy land as soon as harvesting ends to prepare the soil for the next round of crops. So elephants don’t have enough food and they come to the village,” Madurawathi added.
Inactive electric fences
According to R. M. J Bandara, a villager from Galgamuwa who has been advocating human-elephant coexistence claims that there’s a lack of fodder in existing elephant migratory routes. During our visit, we visited the elephant corridor from the Kahalla-Pallekele sanctuary all the way up to Usgama-Siyambalangamuwa. The Kahalla-Pallekele sanctuary was declared in 1989 with an aim to declare the area up to Kala Wewa and Balalu Wewa as a national park. But even after this declaration, illegal land grabbing and human activities have disturbed migratory routes that elephants have been using for many years.
“Then subsequent governments dug trenches, thinking that it would discourage elephants from coming towards villages. But that too was unsuccessful. Elephants now destroy electric fences because there’s lack of maintenance. It is difficult for just one or two wildlife officers to manage these elephant fences. When there’s lack of fodder, they will go to people’s backyards in search of vegetables and fruits grown in home gardens,” Bandara said.
V 
illagers also opine that electric fences have not been effective.
“Within this sanctuary, there are private plantations. Even though these areas were abandoned for some time, the second and third generations are now compelled to sell their ancestral properties. This has aggravated the conflict to a greater extent. So those who obtain these lands would mark their boundaries, put up fences and trenches, disrupting the migratory routes. We believe that with proper maintenance these issues could be managed to an extent. During the paddy harvesting season around 100 elephants would roam these areas and we have to live in fear,” said Senevirathna Banda.
Science behind effective electric fences
According to Dr. Sumith Pilapitiya, an expert in elephant conservation and human-elephant conflict mitigation, there are two critical reasons for success or failure of electric fences. He said that the first reason is the LOCATION of the fence. “Since fences are to keep elephants and people separate, it should be erected at a location that the elephant relates to — which is the edge of elephant habitat. The DWC’s linear fences are for retaining elephants within forested patches or “elephant habitat” and are known as inclusion fences, whereas community based village fences, seasonal paddy field fences and private fences are to prevent elephants from entering villages, paddy fields and private land, so they are known as ‘exclusion fences’. If erected at the right locations, these fences have a very good chance of preventing elephant incursions,” he told the Daily Mirror.
He said that one reason for the failure of most of the state sponsored electric fences is because they are at administrative boundaries rather than ecological boundaries (which are boundaries that elephants relate to). “The second reason for success or failure of electric fences is the MAINTENANCE of the fences. If the fences are well maintained, without any vegetation touching the fence lines, and its voltage and amperage are at the recommended levels, there is a very significant chance of the fences working effectively to deter elephant incursions. Poor maintenance has been the main reason for fence breakages,” he added.
Poor elephant habitat management
Dr. Pilapitiya further said that poor elephant habitat management has become a serious problem in Sri Lanka. “Studies conducted by a PhD student from the University of Colombo have shown that non crop raiding elephant herds who range outside Wasgamuwa National Park are in better body condition than the herds inside the National Park. This conclusion is a clear indication of poor habitat management within our National Parks. It is very likely that this situation exists around other national parks as well,” he said.
Part of the Kahalla-Pallekele forest reserve — Pix by Kithsiri De Mel
He underscored the need to explore the possibility of using lands that are cultivated only during the Maha season and lie fallow during the rest of the year for use as elephant habitat during the uncultivated period. “This will not increase HEC because there are no crops or people on the land during the fallow period,” he explained.
Seasonal electric fences
When asked about the success rate of seasonal electric fences, Dr. Pilapitiya said that from his own experience, community based seasonal paddy field fences are very successful. “This is so because there is a direct incentive for the farmers to maintain and monitor the fence—if they don’t, their crops may be raided by elephants. In 2024, there were around 300 seasonal paddy field fences erected by Farmer Organisations supported by the Department of Agrarian Development. I sincerely believe these and other seasonal paddy field fences contributed significantly to the number of elephant deaths decreasing from 488 in 2023 to 386 in 2024 because people kill elephants mainly when they raid their paddy crops,” he added.
Dr. Pilapitiya said that regardless of whether elephants would use the underpass or not, it should be studied for a year or two after completion without passing judgment. “Because, in time, the elephants may get used to using the underpass, even though they may not use it immediately,” he added.
Several attempts to contact DWC Director General Ranjan Marasinghe to inquire about inactive electric fences proved futile.
Underpass construction work to complete soon
During our visit the Daily Mirror observed that the wildlife underpass at Kasikote, along the Mahawa-Omantai railway line is rapidly being constructed. An engineer working on the site told this newspaper that the construction work is expected to be completed in March 2026. However, the design phase of the project is yet to be finalised as there had been challenges in controlling the movements of elephants towards the villages. The officer said that during the rainy season, the slope that had already been cut tends to be filled with water, and such issues are now being addressed prior to its completion.
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