Walls Come Down: Indian Court Rules Against Forest Barrier Obstructing Elephants

India’s highest court has decreed that an obstructing wall built illegally by a state-owned oil refinery in the nation’s heavily-forested northeastern regions must come down.

In a Friday ruling, the Supreme Court of India dismissed an appeal from an oil refinery to maintain a wall in an elephant migration corridor in the Deopahar Reserve Forest in Golaghat, in the extreme northeastern regions of India.

Illegally built in a heavily-forested area, the wall obstructs elephant migration and other wildlife movement, according to reports and studies from environmental groups and wildlife organizations.

In striking down the appeal from state-owned fossil fuel facility Numaligarh Refinery Ltd, the nation's top judges noted that "Elephants have first right on forest," cited by the NEnow.in news group.

A lawsuit to demolish the man-made forest barrier first gained traction following the May 2015 death of a 7-year-old male elephant due to a ‘severe haemorrhage' after it attempted to smash its way through the oil refinery wall.

Environmentalists recorded multiple instances of elephants using legacy migration pathways attempting to get through areas in which the refinery had illegally constructed barriers.

The walls, built in an area declared in 1996 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to be a No Development Zone, prevented the migration of the huge mammals and presented a danger to their livelihood, according to animal researchers in the region.

A regional court allowed for the refinery to open a small part of the wall in 2016. Environmentalist groups and locals working together then successfully fought for the demolition of the entire wall.

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Assam: SC orders demolition of NRL boundary wall for elephants

The Supreme Court of India on Friday dismissed an appeal filed by Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) and ordered demolition of the entire 2.2 km boundary wall blocking an elephant migration corridor in Deopahar Reserve Forest in Golaghat.

The apex court said that “Elephants have first right on forest”.

The wall became the eye of a storm in 2015 after a 7-year-old male elephant that had reportedly died of “severe haemorrhage” in May that year from violently thrusting against the wall.

The same year, environmentalists captured videos showing elephants trying to cross the high boundary wall.

The green crusaders then started demanding demolition of the wall built by the oil refinery. It was alleged that the wall and the refinery township were being built illegally in a “No Development Zone” declared by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF) in 1996.

In August 2016, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) ordered NRL to demolish the entire length of the wall within a month. But only a 289-metre stretch was demolished.

As per reports, the NRL challenged the NGT order, saying the entire wall need not be demolished as it is not a part of Deopahar Reserve Forest in Golaghat.

Gauhati High Court has stayed any further demolition of the Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) boundary wall as ordered by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) last month.

The NRL claimed it had paid Rs 25 lakh to the State Forest Department, which will be kept in a separate bank account for restoration of the area and for the improvement of the surroundings adjoining the NRL complex and to reduce man-animal conflict especially man-elephant conflict.

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