Avni row still on, Maneka Gandhi now urges CM Naveen Patnaik to save Odisha’s elephants

Representational image of an elephant | Pixabay

Gandhi shoots off a letter to Naveen Patnaik weeks after seven pachyderms died of electrocution in Odisha’s Dhenkanal forest.

New Delhi: Union minister and animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi has written to Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, urging him to take immediate steps to stop elephant deaths in the state, weeks after seven pachyderms died of electrocution in the Dhenkanal Sadar forest range in the state.

Gandhi’s letter comes days after she shot off an angry letter to Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, requesting him to remove environment minister Sudhir Mungantiwar over what she called the “brutal murder” of tigress Avni.

Now, expressing her “grief and horror” at the deaths of elephants on 22 October, Gandhi has written that “the recent electrocution of seven tuskers in Dhenkanal, which is the highest such death toll in a single incident, has caused furore throughout the nation about the reprehensible state of elephant protection in Odisha.”

Accusing government agencies of mismanagement and apathy, she said, “It comes at the back of dismal statistics wherein 124 or a whopping 28 per cent casualties have taken place due to accidents and electrocution.”

“It is tragic to note that a dozen magnificent pachyderms are dying every year due to mismanagement and incoordination between government agencies.” (sic)

Gandhi, who is the minister of women and child development, has also alleged that power distribution companies have been given a free hand in elephant corridors without necessary oversight, causing regular deaths of elephants.

Earlier this year, four elephants, including a calf, were mowed down by a train in Odisha — a state often referred to as the “graveyard for elephants”.

According to environment ministry data, a total of 655 elephants were killed across the country between 2009-10 and 2016-17 — taking the average pachyderm deaths to about seven every month and one every four days. Of these, 390 deaths occurred due to electrocution.

In the letter dated 14 November, Gandhi has also rued that even after laying guidelines under the A.K. Biswal committee by the ministry of environment and forests, the spate of elephant deaths has continued unabated.

“I also urge you to take necessary action against the officials who failed to put the A.K. Biswal Committee’s recommendations into practice in the state,” Gandhi wrote.

In 2010, a four-member expert committee, led by A.K. Biswal, then the conservator of forests, had submitted a detailed report with a list of recommended steps to the ministry and state governments to reduce the number of deaths of elephants.

The minister has also said that the elephants, which are called the national heritage animals, are the pride of the country. “We owe a debt to our future generations for their welfare and safety,” she wrote in the letter.