Shillong, Jan. 28: Environment activists and several wildlife organisations have demanded a proper investigation into the death of four elephants near Belguri along the Assam-Meghalaya border on January 18.
Four elephants died after colliding with an electric pole near Belguri village under West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya. All four were electrocuted on the spot. Forest department officials later declared the death of the four elephants as an accident.
However, Shillong based-environment activists refuse to buy the forest department argument. ?It is not convincing and we are sure something is wrong somewhere. Either it is case of poaching or has resulted due to negligence of the authorities,? said Y. Thamar, an activist.
Most of the environment groups are of the opinion that ?poor management and ignorance? often resulted in the death of elephants in Garo hills. A large portion of Garo hills, especially forest areas, has been included under Project Elephant by the forest department.
Thamar and other environment groups argue that the recent incident where four elephants died ?was a clear case of mismanagement. If precautionary measures had been taken, like erecting barricades around electric poles along elephant corridors, then such incidents could have been prevented,? said N. Bhattacharjee, another activist.
The January 18 incident is the second of its kind in a span of two years and reports have it that death of elephants along the Meghalaya-Assam border, which forms a ?natural corridor? for migratory elephant herds, is a regular phenomenon.
According to unconfirmed reports, some groups have filed a petition against some state governments for failing to protect elephants despite having specific projects to do so. Some other organisations are contemplating sending a team to study the work that has been done so far in areas populated by elephants near the Assam-Meghalaya border.
Others have also questioned the state power department ?rural electrification? programme, which they feel, has been carried out haphazardly.