Orissas forest graveyard

Electrocution is killing elephants every month. This year,32 have been killed so far by low hanging power lines. Worse,none of the power distribution companies or their officials have been penalised

While the mowing down of seven elephants in Dooars,West Bengal,by a speeding goods train has led to a national outrage,there is not even a murmur in Orissas Wildlife Department even as scores of elephants in the state are getting electrocuted almost every month. Early September,two tuskers were killed in the states jungles,taking this years elephant casualties to 32. In August,three elephants were killed at Telkoi in Keonjhar by a low hanging power line. In 2009 alone,16 elephants died due to electrocution in Orissa.

In spite of a recent letter from Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to take steps to protect elephants,little has been done to save them.

Eminent wildlife activist and member of the National Board for Wildlife,Biswajit Mohanty,said that during the last 10 years,75 elephants have been killed by electrocution. Elephants continue to be killed regularly due to electrocution caused by poorly maintained and designed high tension electrical lines. Deaths due to electrocution have been reported from Sambalpur,Narsinghpur,Deogarh,Bamra,Sundargarh,Sukinda and Chandaka due to low hanging high tension lines.

While gunning down or killing the animal with poison-laced arrow is a painful death for the pachyderms,electrocution is the worst possible form of death. The elephants die a violent charred death as alternating current surges through their bodies. These deaths could have been avoided had the four power distribution companies in Orissa taken some precautions. Not a single executive engineer of the power distribution companies has been arrested which proves that the Wildlife Department is reluctant to act against them since three of the companies are run by a private firm, alleged Mohanty.

Wildlife officials admit all the electrocution deaths could have been avoided had monitoring of the electricity lines been done by the Forest Department and the engineers forced to follow the statutory safety norms to maintain a minimum height from the ground.

State Chief Wildlife Warden P N Padhi agreed that every year 8-10 elephants die after accidentally touching sagging high voltage lines in forest areas. The death due to electrocution is quite high, he said.

Officials admitted that since the past one decade,not a single engineer had been arrested or put behind bars for the blatant violation of the Wildlife Protection Act,1972. As elephant is a scheduled I species,and any crime related to this animal is punishable by a minimum jail term of three years and can go up to a maximum of seven years.

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Though Forest Department could have moved the Orissa Electricity Regulatory Commission for cancellation of the distribution licence issued to the three distribution companies,NESCO,WESCO and SOUTHCO,nothing has been done so far. Guidelines framed by the Central Electricity Authority,New Delhi,which are applicable for 11 KV and 33 KV lines,clearly prescribe a minimum distance from the ground for safety reasons.

As observance of all statutory guidelines and safety norms is one of the prime conditions of the licence,the OERC has powers to cancel it if a government agency like the Forest Department points out the absolute negligence of the power companies, said a Wildlife Department official.

Forest Department sources said the action of the department bosses has been limited to the issue of cautionary letters to the power distribution companies. As no penal action has been taken against any official,these companies continue to flout the guidelines with impunity.