Tezpur/Jorhat, Nov. 24: Assam forest minister Pramila Rani Brahma today asked her department to lodge an FIR against the firm engaged in building the Patanjali Mega Herbal and Food Park in Sonitpur district following the death of an elephant, which had fallen into a trench at the construction site.

Three elephants - a male, a female and her calf - had fallen into the trench at the construction site in Ghoramari yesterday when they were passing through. The male elephant was able to climb out but the female died. The calf, which is in a state of shock, was rescued and shifted to the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation.

The minister today visited the site of the incident. The body of the female elephant, which died at 1am today, was still there.

The foundation stone of the Rs 1,300-crore Patanjali Mega Herbal and Food Park was laid on November 6 by Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal. Yoga guru Ramdev and other senior officials of Patanjali Ayurved, Union minister of state for heavy industries and public enterprises Babul Supriyo and Assam industries minister Chandra Mohan Patowary were present on the occasion.

"It is a tragic incident. Local people, too, have seen the movement of elephants in the area for a long time. I have asked my department to lodge an FIR against the company setting up the factory," Brahma said.

No precautionary measures, like putting up boundary walls or fences, were taken to prevent wild elephants from straying into the construction site.

"Everybody in the area have seen elephants moving in the area and the people who are implementing the project should have taken steps," Brahma said.

She also instructed the company to leave 200 bighas of land for elephant movement.

"This is not the end and there might be man-elephant conflicts in the area now. Precautionary steps will have to be taken or the situation will turn dangerous," a source said. Dilip Nath, member of Aranya Surakha Samity Sonitpur, said: "We need industry but we also need to conserve the elephants for which steps have to be taken," he said.

Uday Goswami, coordinator of the Patanjali Mega Herbal and Food Park, said the boundary wall and the solar fencing will be completed very soon. He said Patanjali would soon raise a herbal garden spread over 28,000 hectares of land in adjoining Arunachal Pradesh which would also serve as a refuge for elephants.

The elephant calf rescued yesterday is still in a state of shock. This was disclosed by Pranjit Basumatary - veterinarian at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) near Kaziranga National Park - where the calf was shifted last evening.

Basumatary said the four-year-old calf was refusing to take food. "We have set it free with two other elephant calves at the centre. We believe this will help it recover from the shock of being separated from its mother," he said.

The centre at present has eight elephant calves which were rescued from different parts of the state.

The veterinarian said the calf has a slight injury in one knee.