MUMBAI, July 9 -- The state government is building a boundary wall around the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), Borivali, and has plans to install CCTV cameras within to monitor the movement of leopards and other wild animals. This was announced by forest minister Ganesh Naik on Tuesday in the legislative council, and comes on the back of reports of leopard attacks on people living near the park. According to Naik, this will help reduce man-animal conflict in the area surrounding SGNP, whose circumference is 36 kilometers. Naik made the announcement when Shiv Sena (UBT) member Milind Narvekar and BJP MLC Praveen Darekar spoke up about increasing incidents of attacks by wild animals on people living in Borivali, Goregaon, Powai, Bhandup and Mulund. Darekar demanded the need of a boundary wall to curb the man-animal conflict. "The state government has already started building the boundary wall. It is also working to build a peripheral road inside the SGNP so that forest employees can patrol the park more effectively, keep an eye on the wild animals and prevent their entry into residential areas. The CCTVs will be installed in this stretch," responded Naik. While revealing the government's plan, Naik said in 10 years the number of leopards in SGNP has gone up from 35 to 54, with 32 incidents of attacks on people reported in this duration. The last reported death was in October 2022 after a 16-month-old girl in Aarey Milk Colony was attacked. He added: "Besides CCTVs, the government is also mulling the option of setting up a system to use satellite images to monitor animal movement in future." He also highlighted the forest department's efforts to "ensure that leopards and other animals get adequate food" and that the "plantation of fruit bearing trees helped in the increase of small animals, which become food for leopards". MLC Satyajeet Tambe added that leopard attacks have been a problem across the state, with people from rural areas being a vulnerable lot. Tambe demanded a sterilization programme for leopards be introduced to resolve the issue. Naik responded saying that it will "require the central government's permission which the forest department is pursuing". Shiv Sena MLC Hemant Patil demanded that stray dogs be "captured and sent to the forest areas for leopards to feed on", to which Naik said the government had no such proposal....