India's economic boom is killing elephants: Coordination at all levels is key to keeping pachyderms safe

Even as India makes giant strides to upgrade its economy and infrastructure at breakneck speed, it is the environment that's paying the price particularly its wild animals. The elephant is no different as hordes of them die in different circumstances as the burgeoning human population and the facilities they use shrink the space for elephants.

On 15 November, an elephant died after coming in contact with a high tension powerline at Sansaraposi village in Mayurbhanj district’s of Odisha. The sad news comes in just after a few days of a similar incident which claimed lives of seven pachyderms in the state. On 26 October, a herd of seven elephants was moving towards a canal from a nearby paddy field when it came in contact of a sagging 11-KV power line in the Dhenkanal forest range. This was the highest casualty of elephants reported in a single incident.

While fingers are often pointed at the forest department, the onus of this kind of incidents doesn’t lie with it alone. The failure of the power department to act despite several reminders from the forest department to fix a hanging transmission line cannot be ignored here. As per the Indian Electricity Rules (1956) and Rule 58 of Central Electricity Authority’s Regulations 2010, the height of overhead line should be no less than 4.6 meters and for high voltage lines over 11,000 volts, it should be 5.2 meters. The average height at the shoulder of an Indian or Asian elephant is between 2 to 3.5 metres. Had the power department responded to the call with alacrity such a tragic outcome could have been prevented.

Biswajit Mohanty of Wildlife Society of Odisha is extremely upset with these deaths. He said, “We have done various surveys before the October incident and have written several letters to the power department about the sagging power line in Dhenkanal district. But it was of no use. The electrical company (CESU) is not working in compliance with the Indian Electricity Rules (1956). Last Sunday also, we have done a survey and still there are a lot of sagging lines which can become a reason for another accident in the district."

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