THRISSUR: Even after the empowered committee of the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWAI) submitted a report to Guruvayur Devaswom (GD) and forest department to set up shelter sheds for all its elephants in 2014, 36 of 54 elephants at the Punnathur Kotta in Guruvayur here has no shelter. An RTI reply given by GD to V K Venkitachalam of NGO Heritage Animal Task Force has brought it to light recently.
A four-member team of the empowered committee led by Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (CUPA) chairperson Suparna Ganguly had visited the sanctuary in August 2014 based on the HATF's complaint submitted to the Board citing abysmal conditions of the pachyderms in the sanctuary. “After submitting the report, the AWBI had asked the GD to take immediate action. But, till now nothing has been done in this regard,” he said.
The RTI document also brought to light that 19 elephants with the GD do not have ownership certificates either. About the ownership certificate, its officials are of the view that application has been submitted to the forest department, but it is caught up in technicalities. Task Force members said that the GD officials had not properly verified the documents of the pachyderms offered by several high-profile devotees which had led to the stalemate over the certificates.
