Jorhat, April 25: Three elephants were injured after they were trapped inside a newly acquired plot of land, walled off by the Numaligarh Refinery Limited in Golaghat district.

The NRL authorities had constructed a 2km wall on one side and erected an electric fencing on the other side of the plot, divisional forest officer of Golaghat, R. Choudhury, said.

“The three elephants entered the plot last night through an opening in the fence and got trapped. All the three elephants were injured after they hit against the wall several times in a bid to get out of the enclosure,” the DFO said.

The 100-bigha plot falls under an elephant corridor and there is regular movement of elephants in the particular area. “We had cautioned the NRL authorities earlier not to construct the boundary wall because the area falls under the elephant corridor. We had been anticipating such an incident,” he added.

After receiving information that the elephants were trapped inside the enclosure, forest personnel arrived at the place early this morning. “After nearly three hours of struggle, the forest staff managed to send the jumbos back through the same opening through which they had entered the enclosure,” Choudhury said.

The DFO said the elephants had come from the Deopahar area, adjacent to National Highway 39, which connects Assam with Nagaland and Manipur.

That particular plot of the land belongs to forest department and has been selected for a proposed reserve forest, he added. “We have no idea as to how NRL authorities acquired that plot of land. We have not received any papers in this regard,” he said.

Chowdhury said the forest department has briefed the Golaghat district administration and top forest officials. “It’s an illegal construction carried out by the NRL authorities. It is illegal to carry out construction in an important elephant corridor. Herds of elephants from Kaziranga and Nambar reserve forest frequently move in the area,” he said.

The forest department had served a written notice to NRL authorities in January asking them not to carry out any construction on this particular plot of land which belongs to the forest department.

An official of the NRL, however, said the plot of land was legally acquired by the NRL from Numaligarh tea estate authorities.