Two expert committees formed by the Forest Department in July 2020 to study the elephant population in Tamil Nadu and deaths of elephants in Coimbatore Forest Division are no longer functional.
Members of the two committees said that they ceased to function after a few online meetings and no detailed report was submitted to the Department.
The first committee of seven members was formed on July 2, 2020 to study deaths of elephants in Coimbatore Forest Division from January 1, 2017 to July 2, 2020 after the division reported multiple deaths of wild elephants.
A total of 15 elephants had died at the time of the formation of the committee and five more elephants died by the end of 2020.
With Sheker Kumar Niraj, then the Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife), as chairperson, the committee had six others including elephant experts Ajay Desai and N. Sivaganesan as members. It was asked to submit the evaluation report in six months.
A senior official of the Department who was asked to facilitate the committee told The Hindu that it did not submit the report.
While Mr. Niraj was transferred from the post to APCCF and Special Secretary (Forests), Environment and Forests Department, one of the key members namely Desai passed away in November. There was no replacement.
The Department formed a second committee of 11 experts on July 4, 2020 to study elephant population and their movement in Tamil Nadu from January 1, 2006 to June 30, 2020.
Mr. Niraj was tasked to head the committee with S. Anand, District Forests Officer, Madurai, as member secretary. The second committee had all the seven members of the first one and Mr. Anand and three others as additional members.
The Department had asked the committee to submit a report on or before December 31, 2020 after looking into various aspects including the state of the habitats of elephants, estimation of cost for the restoration of habitats, human wildlife conflict, measures to minimise conflicts and pattern of elephant births and deaths among others.
A senior official from the Forest Department said that no data was provided by the field officials for the study and the COVID-19 pandemic became a hindrance for field visits. A member of both committees said that no field work was done since their formation.
S. Yuvaraj, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and the Head of the Forest Force, and Syed Muzammil Abbas, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden, did not comment when contacted for a response.