Wild elephant found electrocuted on private land

Mr K. Soundarapandian, district forest officer, Nilgiris north divison, said preliminary investigations showed that the elephant, probably aged about 15 years, tried to enter the pump house located in the rear portion and tried to pull at a power cable. The live wire instantly killed the elephant. “The jumbo ventured into the private land amidst the jungles there, where tourist cottages have been built, from the nearby jungles of the Singara forest range. Now, investigation is under way to ascertain the legalities connected with the construction of a pump house there and using high-voltage electricity,” he added.

When asked how so many tourist cottages had been allowed to come up there as this comes in the notified Sigur valley elephant corridor, Mr Soundrapandian said it needs to be investigated. For the past couple of years, no permission was accorded from the forest department to build any construction on private lands in the notified elephant corridor, he added.

Seeking action to evict those running commercial establishments in the elephant corridor, Mr B.K. Kumaran, president of the Nilgiris Ecology and Animals Protection Samithi, said the way in which tourist cottages had sprouted on private land in Singara, and an elephant being electrocuted, showed that officials have not cracked the whip against such illegal activity.

“The Nilgiris collector who is a respondent in the elephant corridor case should immediately take action to demolish the tourist cottages which are learnt to have been built without obtaining the mandatory no-objection certificate from the forest department,” he said.