Weeks after the Chhattisgarh Excessive Court docket requested the federal government to take measures to stop elephant deaths, three tuskers — together with a calf — died of electrocution in Raigarh district Friday night.
The incident happened in Chuhkimar forest below Tamnar forest vary in Raigarh. In response to officers, the elephants, which have been half of a bigger herd, got here in touch with an 11 KV (kilovolt) energy transmission line that was 3.45 meters excessive. A submit mortem confirmed that the animals died of electrocution over 12 hours in the past.
In response to officers, whereas the world is a part of an elephant hall, no tusker had ever stopped right here.
“That is the primary time an elephant has died on the spot. We now have additionally taken mitigating measures by informing the electrical energy division about just a few villages the place elephant motion has been noticed asking them to extend the peak of electrical energy strains so such an incident is averted in future,” Raigarh Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Stylo Mandavi instructed The Indian Categorical.
Human-elephant conflicts within the northern a part of the state have been a significant explanation for concern within the final decade, with districts resembling Surguja, Raigarh, Korba, Surajpur, and Balrampur going through the issue.
On October 3, the Chhattisgarh Excessive Court docket disposed of a 2021 petition that sought an answer to the issue. The court docket had beforehand expressed shock on the variety of elephant deaths brought on by electrocution.
“Will such deaths go unchecked? What is occurring, what measures are being taken? For those who can not save wildlife, we’re doomed,” a division bench comprising Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Ravindra Kumar Agrawal mentioned throughout one of many hearings.
In response to the petitioners, a complete of 21 elephants have died of electrocution between 2022 and 2024. The affidavit additionally cites forest division knowledge to say that 2,391 places had free electrical strains and says that there was a high-level assembly of state authorities officers earlier this yr to stop elephants as a result of electrocution.
“In view of the identical, the authorities involved are directed to adjust to the choices taken within the above-mentioned conferences,” the bench had mentioned in its October ruling.
