Golaghat, Oct. 11: The Golaghat forest division will lodge an FIR against Assam Power Distribution Company Limited (APDCL) for its alleged negligence that led to the death of an elephant in a tea garden last night.
A 20-year-old female elephant was electrocuted on Saturday night after it came in contact with a live high-tension electric cable in Kathoni tea garden under Murphuloni beat office. The elephant was cremated today.
Sources in the forest department said as soon as they got the information about the incident they arrived at the spot, which was quite remote, and as it was already dark, they could not carry out any formalities and had to go back. They went back today with vets from Golaghat and carried out the post mortem before cremating the jumbo on the spot.
The divisional forest officer (DFO) of Golaghat forest division, C. Muthukumaravel, told The Telegraph that it is lodging an FIR against the APDCL for its alleged negligence in their work that led to the death of the elephant.
"We have been urging APDCL's Golaghat electric division a number of times to raise the height of the power lines and repair the sagging lines and posts but nothing fruitful has been done in this regard," Muthukumaravel said.
"Several wild elephants have died in the area because of electrocution. On May 29 this year, an elephant died near Bokial Kaliyoni road because of criminal negligence of the department concerned as the transformer board was kept very low in an open manner. The APDCL needs to take it seriously at the higher level. Apart from the FIR, we are working on the legal options available and will also inform Project Elephant authorities," Muthukumaravel said.
According to the forest department data, in the past 10 years, four wild elephants have lost their lives to electrocution in Golaghat district. The DFO said a joint survey was carried out by the forest and APDCL officials to identify low-lying power transmission lines in elephant habitat and migratory corridors under Golaghat division. The survey report was submitted to the assistant general manager of APDCL's Golaghat electric division (vide letter no. B/16/1737-40) on August 1, 2013, but no action has been taken regard by the department concerned, he added.
On August 9, 2013, the Golaghat district administration formed a joint co-ordination committee headed by the deputy commissioner and consisting of assistant general manager of APDCL, Golaghat electrical division, divisional forest officer and representatives of local NGOs to prevent deaths of wild elephants because of electrocution. The committee is required to monitor the maintenance of transmission lines and ensure prevention of electrocution of wild elephants.
