Small section of controversial refinery wall in Indian ‘elephant corridor’ demolished

Environmental activists in India have expressed dismay at the partial demolition of a wall built by an oil refinery that they hoped would be completely pulled down. The wall, they contend, blocks an important elephant corridor out of a national park.

Officials on March 13 tore down a 289-meter (948-foot) stretch of the 2.2-kilometer (1.4-mile) concrete wall built in 2011 to mark the boundary of a proposed township to be set up by Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL), a joint venture between Bharat Petroleum, Oil India and the government of the state of Assam.

Erected to fence off the company’s housing estate and a golf course, the wall became the center of controversy in 2015. In May that year, forest officials found a 7-year-old male elephant that had reportedly died of “severe hemorrhage” from violently thrusting against the wall. The same year, environmentalists captured videos showing elephants trying to cross the high boundary wall.

A campaign to tear down the wall, led by the environmental activist Rohit Choudhury, appeared to be successful when, in August 2016, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) — tasked with ensuring the speedy disposal of environmental cases — ordered NRL to demolish the entire length of the wall within a month.

The demolition earlier this month, Choudhury told Mongabay, was carried out only after he filed yet another plea with the NGT in November 2017, highlighting the failure to execute the NGT’s orders — something that could incur penalties for NRL and state government officials.

The case is, however, still ongoing because NRL filed a review petition. Madhuchanda Adhikari, an NRL spokesperson, said in an email that the company was not in a position to comment on the wall pending the review at the NGT. She added that “no declared elephant corridor exists in the boundary wall site.”

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