NRL defying court order on wall in jumbo corridor: green activist

Environmental activist Rohit Choudhury has appealed to the Assam chief secretary to take action against Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) for non-compliance with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the Supreme Court’s orders.

The activist also sent copies of his letter to the Supreme Court and the principal chief conservator of forest and other senior administrative officers to look into the matter.

The NGT had directed the NRL authorities to demolish a wall constructed on an elephant corridor during extension of its township.

But Choudhury of Lokhoujan, Golaghat, challenged the construction, since it created a major obstacle in the movement of elephants from Karbi Anglong to Kaziranga National Park through the Deopahar corridor.

The NGT had directed NRL to demolish the wall based on the application no. 38/2011 filed by Choudhury.

But NRL filed a review application with the NGT and the NGT dismissed the application on August 3, 2018, and directed NRL to vacate the land within a month.

Later, NRL moved the Supreme Court and the court upheld the order of the NGT on August 24, 2016.

The order said the wall was constructed at the no-development zone declared by the Union ministry of environment and forest in 1996.

But even after the Supreme Court’s order, the NRL authorities did not pay heed.

Golaghat deputy commissioner Dhiren Hazarika also asked NRL authorities to demolish the wall in Deopahar reserve forest on or before Thursday. The date was now over and no action was initiated by NRL.

Finally, Choudhury appealed to the Assam chief secretary Alok Kumar to initiate action against NRL. On Wednesday, he urged Kumar to take action as per the provisions of Sections 26, 27 and 28 of the NGT Act, 2010.

The sections invite serious penalty for non-compliance with the NGT’s order.

Talking to The Telegraph, the chief general manager (HR) of NRL, Debashish Choudhury, said: “We have not thought about the matter yet. No decision has been taken regarding vacating the acquired land for the proposed extension of township.”

Dhiren Handiqui, an official of NRL, said: “We are not aware of any direction of the NGT or the Supreme Court regarding the boundary wall or other development.”

Additional deputy commissioner in charge of revenue Utpal Doley said, “The administration will not tolerate the callous attitude of NRL. We will follow the order of the apex court and the NGT and demolish all the construction on the elephant corridor made by NRL.”

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NGT slaps fine over electrocution of elephants in Odisha

Nearly two months after seven elephants were electrocuted by a sagging power line in the highly-industrialised Dhenkanal district of Odisha, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) today slapped an additional penalty of Rs 40 million on the state’s Central Electrical Supply Undertaking (CESU) for its lackadaisical attitude towards safety of both humans and animals.

This brings the total penalty up to Rs 50 million since October. The principal bench of NGT headed by its chairman, Justice Adarsh Goel imposed the fine. In October, NGT had registered a case against CESU after taking a suo-motu cognizance of media reports and had already imposed a fine of Rs 10 million.

On October 26, seven elephants were electrocuted when they came in contact with a carelessly-laid cable supplying power to a railway construction site from an 11 KV line in the Dhenkanal Sadar forest.

One of the elephant cows was pregnant with a 18-month unborn foetuswhich officials found after cutting open her belly. Though wildlife officials had intimated CESU earlier, no action was taken.

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NGT slaps fine over electrocution of elephants in Odisha | india news

Nearly two months after seven elephants were electrocuted by a sagging power line in the highly-industrialised Dhenkanal district of Odisha, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) today slapped an additional penalty of Rs 40 million on the state’s Central Electrical Supply Undertaking (CESU) for its lackadaisical attitude towards safety of both humans and animals.

This brings the total penalty up to Rs 50 million since October. The principal bench of NGT headed by its chairman, Justice Adarsh Goel imposed the fine. In October, NGT had registered a case against CESU after taking a suo-motu cognizance of media reports and had already imposed a fine of Rs 10 million.

On October 26, seven elephants were electrocuted when they came in contact with a carelessly-laid cable supplying power to a railway construction site from an 11 KV line in the Dhenkanal Sadar forest.

One of the elephant cows was pregnant with a 18-month unborn foetuswhich officials found after cutting open her belly. Though wildlife officials had intimated CESU earlier, no action was taken.

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https://southasiansnews.com/2018/12/20/ngt-slaps-fine-over-electrocution-of-elephants-in-odisha-india-news/

NGT forms team to probe jumbo deaths

New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has constituted a team to probe the death of seven elephants which were electrocuted after coming in contact with a livewire near Kamalanga village in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson, Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, constituted a team comprising representatives of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India, director of Project Elephant and Chief Wildlife Warden of Odisha.

The team will visit the site and suggest measures to prevent recurrence of such incidents in future, due to electrocution or other causes which can be applicable to wildlife areas in the entire country, the NGT said.

“The representative of MoEF will be the coordinator. The visit may be undertaken within two weeks from today,” the bench, also comprising Justice SP Wangdi, said in its October 30 order.

The green panel had directed the Central Electricity Supply Utility of Odisha (CESU) to deposit Rs 1 crore with the Chief Wildlife Warden of the state within a week and asked it to submit its stand in the case to the MoEF.

The tribunal said the incident ‘prima facie’ shows apathy to the wildlife by CESU as 42 elephants have died of electrocution due to sagging livewires and at least 18 were killed in Dhenkanal division since April 2010 as per a news report.

It appointed advocate Amit A Pai to assist the tribunal in the matter and posted the matter for consideration of the report December 20.

The tribunal passed the order after taking note of the news report. The article said that according to the forest department, electrocution occurred on account of negligence of CESU.

Seven elephants were electrocuted after coming in contact with a livewire near Kamalanga village October 27.

A herd of 13 jumbos was passing through the village in Sadar forest range and seven of them came in contact with the 11-KV wire.

The carcasses of the pachyderms, including a tusker and five females, were spotted in the morning by villagers who informed forest officials.

While three carcasses were lying on a road, four others were inside a canal. The incident happened apparently because of sagging electric wire, the forest officials said.

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