Above: There are more than 100 elephant corridors in India, but many have seen encroachments/Photo: UNI
The Supreme Court and a gutsy collector have red-flagged violations in green corridors in the Nilgiris and cracked down on resorts in the area
~By Stephen David in Bengaluru
An eco-conscious judiciary, ably assisted in its conservation mission by a feisty young Tamil Nadu state service bureaucrat, has given a new lease of life to elephants in the Nilgiris. On August 9, four days before World Elephant Day, a three-member bench of the Supreme Court directed Tamil Nadu to seal or close down 27 illegal buildings (mostly resorts/commercial buildings) constructed in the elephant corridor within 48 hours. The owners of some of the resorts had filed appeals in the Supreme Court against a Madras High Court order in this regard.
The owners of 12 buildings, including a famous movie star whose lawyers were present in the Supreme Court, have resubmitted their documents to the Nilgiris collectorate for further scrutiny. Officials have been directed to go through each document with a toothcomb and not spare a single defaulter. The new collector—J Innocent Divya, 43, who took over her new assignment in July 2017—has been on a mission to restore the lost greenery of the Nilgiris.
The Supreme Court had upheld Divya’s 70-page sealed action-taken report that was presented before it. This detailed dossier was on illegal, commercial construction that had come up in the sprawling district over the years. Of the 39 resorts that were flagged for demolition, only 12 got a temporary reprieve, while lawyers were not present for the other 27.
Yesteryears actor Mithun Chakraborty’s building is among the 12. However, sources at the Nilgiris collectorate told India Legal that a team of officials will scrutinise the papers that have been submitted for approval and punitive action, including sealing the complexes, will be taken if needed. The Supreme Court gave two months’ time to report the action taken for some other names that were mentioned in Divya’s report.
WOMAN ON A MISSION
Divya, operating from her office in Udhagamandalam (formerly Ooty), has already earned a reputation for cracking down on environmental pollutants in her district. From ticking off private hospitals for not effectively disposing of medical waste to banning plastic and other anti-green products, she has earned laurels for her bold moves.
She has embarked on a major drive to restore the old glory of her district and these are some of the measures she has taken: 19 items of plastic are banned, including paper bags and paper plates which contain wax; sanctions for houses will be through a multi-layer team from the departments of forests, mining, agri-engineering and the local gram panchayat; heavy fines for littering and compulsory wet waste composting and dry waste recycling with tie-ups with major stakeholders. Her itinerary is online and so are her team’s initiatives. Her predecessors—P Sivasankaran, Supriya Sahu and Anand V Patil—too had made efforts to make the hills plastic-free, but Divya has given heft to the movement.
The apex court judges noted that elephants are a national heritage and were distraught that illegal constructions had come up on their habitat. Ecology researcher Joshua David, who had done elephant research and conservation in the Nilgiris between 1997 and 2006 before he founded Beacon Foundation, a citizens’ initiative for safe and sustainable society, told India Legal: “As a flagship species, the elephant has the right of way in an elephant corridor. Tourism and businesses cannot claim a right to livelihood in a protected area. That privilege belongs only to forest-dependent tribals and wildlife.” An elephant corridor is a narrow strip of land that links two large habitats. Securing this space is key for their survival.
Elephant herds are known to migrate across 500 sq km every year. But due to unlawful urbanisation, they are trekking into human zones, causing conflicts and sometimes deaths of villagers, who, in turn, take revenge on the hapless pachyderms. India has some 25,000 elephants. A 2017 800-page study, Right of Passage, jointly published by Wildlife Trust of India in collaboration with Project Elephant and UK-based NGO Elephant Family, reported over 100 elephant corridors across India: 28 in south India, 25 in central India, 23 in northeastern India, 14 in northern West Bengal and 11 in northwestern India. Hundreds of elephants die either from accidents with trains, on state and national highways, in canals and mining areas, while fragmentation, degradation and habitat loss continue to plague them.
MAN-ANIMAL CONFLICT
Both Divya’s bold action, spurred by the top court, and teamwork from many non-government players have helped to stem unnecessary deaths of both humans and elephants. It is estimated that 400 to 500 humans lose their lives in conflicts with elephants every year, while some 100 of these animals are killed in retaliation or by poachers. Rogue elephant poachers like Veerappan—shot dead in October 2004—were responsible for killing more than a hundred elephants.
From time to time, the Ministry of Environment and Forests highlights the issue of elephant corridors in 22 states and asks them to urgently reduce incidents of man-elephant conflict and fatalities. More than a dozen states have not responded favourably to the centre’s diktat. The apex court, peeved over the nonchalant attitude of some states, was told that an expert panel was constituted to give suggestions, including establishing elephant corridors.
In a response to a PIL before it, the Supreme Court had some time ago suggested that nine states acquire land across 27 high-priority corridors to enable safe movement of elephants. The Project Elephant Director in the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, RK Srivastava, had noted that identifying corridors is an ongoing process. Non-profit players were involved in acquiring a 25-acre land to usher in India’s first-ever privately bought elephant corridor in Karnataka in 2007.
“The key is to involve the local community and sensitise them to care for elephants,” says Rev Prem Mitra, chairman of A Rocha India, a conservation organisation whose team has worked closely with farmers and the community around Bannerghatta National Park in Bengaluru.
The red flag in the green corridor is a small step from the apex court, but a giant leap for elephant welfare.