Guidelines issued to prevent deaths of elephants

Madurai: S Kalanithi, Megamalai wildlife division’s warden and officer-in-charge of Venniyar reserve forest near Cumbum, Theni district, on Thursday, submitted a report before the Madurai bench of the Madras high court stating that efforts were under way to alter the electric lines in the forests to prevent electrocution of elephants in future. The bench had earlier taken suo motu cognizance of a newspaper report on the electrocution of five elephants at the same spot in the Vanniyar reserve forest near Cumbum range and issued directions to the authorities to change the low-lying electric wires in the reserve forest. An elephant and her calf was electrocuted on June 19 this year and on September 4, a nine-year-old elephant was electrocuted. On November 24, two elephants were found dead at the same spot and the cause of death was said to be electrocution, the report stated. On Thursday, Kalanithi submitted the report stating that they have suggested guidelines issued by the National Board of wildlife to Tamil Nadu Transmission Corporation Limited (TANTRANSCO) to prevent electrocution death of elephants. According to the guidelines, the height at the lowest point of wires of power lines passing through all natural areas with known presence or movement of elephants shall be a minimum of 20 feet (6.6 meters) above ground on level terrain and a minimum of 30 feet (9.1 meter) above ground on steeper terrain. In between towers 47 and 48 crossing through Venniar reserve forest, the high voltage lines are very low lying (7-10 feet) for more than 50 meters, warden stated and submitted that an additional tower may be erected or the existing tower height shall be increased to increase the ground clearance to above 20 feet.

Until rectification of the low lying electric high tension lines, temporary discontinuation of electric supply was suggested and the same was accepted by TANTRANSCO.

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Roads, railway tracks turn deathtraps for animals

Official records say Uttara Kannada district has one of the most dense and diverse forest covers in the entire Southern peninsula. However, environment enthusiasts are waging a losing battle to conserve the biodiversity.

Data shows that the district, which till 1973 had nearly 67.73% of its total land under forest cover, is
losing its greenery at the rate of 13% per year. According to a report by environment scientist T V

Ramachandra and others at Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, by 2013, Uttara Kannada had only
32.08% of its total land under forest cover. The report mentioned that development works, agriculture
activities, encroachments and other non-forest activities had robbed o
the green cover.

If the past was tensed for the pristine
forests in the cradle of Western Ghats, the future seems to be uncertain due to ‘development’ works
that cut through the district.

While projects such as Seabird, Gerusoppa Dam, Supa Dam, Kaiga Atomic Power Station reduced the
forest cover by nearly 64,355 hectare in the last few decades; new projects such as Hubballi-Ankola

Railway Line, widening of Sirsi-Kumta State Highway, expansion of the Kaiga plant, mini-hydro
projects, enhancement of port capacity, etc., are expected to eat further into the evergreen, semideciduous
and reserve forest areas. Neighbouring Belagavi district, where a small portion of Western

Ghats runs, is also not spared as railway and national highway works are set to bring down thousands
of trees.

Environmentalists are fighting against the implementation of Hubballi-Ankola Railway Line, as the 163
km broad gauge would destroy over 1.78 lakh trees in 1,472 acres of the core forest areas, which
comprise a tiger reserve and an elephant corridor. The project, which was proposed at an estimated
cost of Rs 453 crore in the Railway Budget of 1997-98, will now be completed at an estimated cost of

Rs 3,750 crore. A recent report submitted by the National Tiger Conservatory Authority of the Union
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, not only recommended scrapping of the project, but also stated that if implemented, it would result in a total environment loss to the tune of Rs 623 crore. The project is expected to be completed 10 years, from the date of commencement.

Ananth Hegde Ashisara, former chairman of the Western Ghats Task Force, said the railway line between Hubballi and Ankola is neither economically viable nor environmentally feasible.

Governments are also pushing for the implementation of Tinai Ghat-Castle Rock railway doubling
project, which requires 10.45 hectares of forest land, out of which 9.57 hectares falls within the

Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary. More than 1,700 trees will have to be cut for this project.

Ironically, there are already two railway lines — Londa-Khanapur and Alnavar-Londa-Castlerock —
that pass through the Western Ghats of Belagavi and Uttara Kannada districts and they have become
deathtraps for animals. In the last few years, more than 20 Indian bison, two elephants and several
other animals have lost their lives on these tracks.

People are also flabbergasted at the pace at which the sanctions for the widening of highways are
being given in the last few months. Projects which were in abeyance for decades are being
implemented in months now.

The widening of National Highway 4A that connects Belagavi with Goa border via Khanapur,
Ramanagar, Anmod Ghat, was first proposed in 2005 and was to be completed in two phases. While
the first phase — connecting Belagavi with Khanapur — had no objection from anyone, the second
phase that cuts through the thick forest of Londa region, required proper mitigation measures.

However, the National Highway Authority of India, which received approval for the second phase in
principle called a tender and started cutting of trees inside the reserve forest area within days of
receiving permission in October. Oicially,
more than 22,622 trees will be rooted out to widen the
present 14 metre road to 26 metre road.

Sachin Patil, Wildlife Warden of Belagavi, rues that government is widening a road which is hardly in
use, as there are two alternative roads connecting Belagavi with Goa. Moreover, the Goa side of
highway is not being widened. “No proper mitigation measures are being taken to reduce roadkills.

This stretch is an elephant corridor and also a house for tigers, black panthers, and other rare
species,” he said.

The Union government is also rushing to upgrade the Sirsi-Kumta State Highway into a National
Highway (NH-69) by widening it under the Sagar Mala Project. The project, estimated to cost Rs 360.63
crore, is expected to be completed in 18 months. Conservation Biologist Keshava H Korse said, “No
one asked for this project. The present road is suicient
for the traic
the highway sees. Devimane

Ghat is highly sensitive and in hilly areas, no one expects to zip through the hairpin curves.” He fears
that cutting of 15,072 trees from the hill side would result in flooding, landslide and other disasters.

Alongside, there are proposals to upgrade six other State Highways in Uttara Kannada district into
National Highways under the Sagar Mala Project.
Environmentalists fear that the proposed installation of fifth and sixth nuclear reactors at the Kaiga plant would result in further destruction of trees in the region. While laying high voltage wires for the first four units, the Nuclear Power Corporation Of India had removed thousands of trees from the 732 hectare forest land. Though there is a proposal for laying of underground cables, there is no clear picture as to how much forest land would be engulfed for this purpose.

There is confusion among officials and elected representatives regarding the implementation of proposed 12 mini-hydro projects across Uttara Kannada district. While officials claim that the project has been dropped, elected representatives campaign for elections saying hydro projects would light up houses in the remote villages of the district.
The proposed capacity enhancement of ports such as Belekeri, Amdalli, Karwar, Tadadi and Ankola will not only destroy the estuaries of River Kali, Sharavathi and Aghanashini, but is set to spell doom for Western Ghats as higher number of heavy vehicles would ply on these sensitive roads. Diversion of rivers such as Kali and Aghanashini will also have a huge impact on the Western Ghats as they have to draw pipelines inside the forest area, which will result in the destruction of large tracts of forest.

Environment writer Nagesh Hegde said that people have already started feeling the impact of destruction. “Uttara Kannada, the land of many rivers, is facing drinking water crisis in summer. There is also a steady decrease in the rainfall,” he notes.“It’s time we question the need for this kind of development which is not sustainable.”

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Forest dept to explore tech use to prevent jumbo deaths

Kolkata: Concerned over the death of elephants, particularly on the railway tracks in North Bengal, the state Forest department will hold a workshop at Chalsa on November 16 and 17, to explore technology that can be adopted to prevent such deaths. "There are a number of technologies that are presently available to track the movement of jumbos in the forest areas. But calibrating them has been the challenge. The workshop will deliberate upon and showcase the various technologies and at the same time, there will be demonstrations on the calibration aspect too," said Ravi Kant Sinha, the chief wildlife warden of the state.

It may be mentioned that IIT Delhi has come up with a seismic sensor technology that will give a vibratory signal about the pachyderms' movement near rail tracks, once fitted. A message would be sent to the nearest station master and the driver of trains about to pass through the area, so that they remain alert.

"There are some other technologies involving CCTV surveillance and sending alerts through SMS to the train driver that will be showcased at the two day workshop," added Sinha. The railway tracks between Siliguri and Alipurduar, stretching close to 165 km, have witnessed more than 60 elephants being killed by trains since 2004. The tracks pass through several forest areas, including the Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary, Jaldapara National Park and Buxa Tiger Reserve. The conference is being organised by the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and the state Forest department. Senior officials from National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) will also be present at the two day conference, along with representatives of Railways, the Wildlife Institute of India, NGOs and local communities. "There have been a handful of elephant deaths on national highways as well. We want to have a comprehensive technological use to curb jumbo deaths. So, we are involving every single stakeholder," a senior official of the state Forest department said. Prodded by the Supreme Court to curb the death of elephants on railway tracks and by electrocution, it was 2013 when the ministry of Environment and Forests had proposed the use of technology. A pilot project to test the sensors is underway at the Rajaji National Park near Dehradun. The issue of the death of the pachyderms has come up for discussion in several meetings between the state government and the Railways in particular. The South Eastern Railway has plans to restrict the speed of trains from 7 pm till 5 am in the morning at 70 km per hour in Kharagpur and Adra division that covers forest areas of Purulia, West Midnapore and Jhargram.

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Elephants population in Bengal rises from 590 to 682 in four years

The elephant population in the Bengal has increased from 590 in 2014 to 682, the recent elephant census by the State Forest Department has revealed.

The numbers reflect the elephants inhabiting both north and south Bengal.The elephants were counted by direct count method and for the first time south Bengal was also included.

Another census is also being done using the dung decay, which according state's chief wildlife warden, is a more accurate way of determining the elephant population and may reveal a bigger population as many elephants may not be sighted in thick forests. Dung decay method takes into account dung density, decay rate and defecation rate to calculate the number of elephants inhabiting an area. This method was first used in Buxa forests in BengalThe chief wildlife warden pointed out that little decrease in the numbers wasn't a matter of concern, as elephants were always on the move. At least 100 elephants were always moving from one place to another, he informed. From north Bengal they could move to Assam, and even cross the border and inhabit the jungles of Bhutan and Nepal for some time. Similarly from south Bengal, they could move to Odisha and Jharkhand, he said. The State Forest Department tracks the movement of the elephants on daily basis with the help of locals, who inform the forest officials about the elephant sightings through WhatsApp and other messaging services. Continuous monitoring of the elephant movement enables forest officials to get an idea of range-wise presence of elephants and inform locals of possible elephant attacks on villages.

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HC seeks report on health condition of elephant

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday, hearing a plea seeking treatment of a sick elephant and against its transfer to Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre (Bengaluru) given its health condition, has sought an additional status report. A division bench of Justices M.Sathyanarayanan and R.Hemalatha directed the Wildlife Warden, Virudhunagar, and the District-level Captive Elephants Welfare Committee, Virudhunagar, to inspect the elephant undergoing treatment at the Animal Care Trust, Virudhunagar, and file a report by March 21. The court directed the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and Chief Wildlife Warden to report on sites with medical facilities for treating elephants. The petitioner, A.Karthick Selvam of Virudhunagar, had moved the High Court stating that the elephant, Lakshmi, owned by N.

Soundarajan of Palani, was suffering from foot rot infection as it was not nurtured properly.

He claimed that the elephant was used to seek alms from the public. He said that the Conservator of Forests, Dindigul, had rescued the elephant.

Veterinary doctors treated it and they advised treatment at the Animal Care Trust. But the owner wanted to entrust the custody of the elephant to the Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre (WRCC), Bengaluru, for a year.

During the course of the treatment, it emerged that the elephant is Indira.

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NGO petitions Bihar wildlife warden for action against cruelty towards captive elephants

New Delhi, Mar 30 (PTI) To ensure that captive elephants in Bihar were not ill-treated by their owners to make them work harder, as was done to a 30-year-old pachyderm that died recently due to the cruel treatment, a Delhi-based NGO has petitioned the wildlife warden of that state to take strict action against those who engage in such activities.

The NGO, Wildlife SOS, claimed that the 30-year-old female elephant, Laxmi, was beaten and starved to death by its owners.

The NGO, which is engaged in rescuing and rehabilitating wild animals in distress, said the incident at Motihari in Bihar highlighted the harsh reality of cruelty and neglect that privately-owned captive elephants suffered.

It further claimed that Laxmi was poached from the wild as a calf and chained and tortured for years, adding that the animal was later sold to the elephant traffickers.

"Years of abuse and malnourishment had left the animals body fragile and severely weakened and its bones brittle and compromised. The skin had sagged over its bony frame and the legs caved inward, no longer able to support the weight of its body," the NGO said.

It added that despite the elephant being in such a weak condition, its owners had allegedly attacked it with sharp spears, bull-hooks and sticks to force it to work. Unable to bear the suffering, the animal had collapsed and died, the NGO said.

The owners of the animal had fled the scene before forest department officials, who were informed by the NGO, reached the spot. PTI HMP RC RC

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