A few days ago, a herd of elephants visited the Hillgrove railway station near Coonoor in search of water. Quickly discovering that their traditional pathway out of the station was blocked by a huge retaining wall, the matriarch led the herd up the Coonoor ghat along the Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) line.
A recent spate of public infrastructure projects along the ghat section, including work at the railway station and massive expansion of the National Highway between Kallar and Coonoor has disturbed traditional pathways used by elephants to ascend the Coonoor ghat from Kallar. Both the Southern Railway as well as the National Highways wing of the State Highways Department have been equally responsible lately of completely disregarding elephant pathways in their plans to expand existing infrastructure, conservationists from the Nilgiris said.
N. Mohanraj, one of the Nilgiris’ prominent conservationists, said that retaining walls and culverts constructed by both departments was having a huge impact on elephants. “Elephant paths should be marked before work is started by these government departments, and their proposals should be suitably modified to ensure that there is little or no impact on wildlife. The risk these projects pose are not just to wildlife, but also to people, as they could lead to an increase in human-elephant interactions as elephants become reliant on roads and railway lines to climb the ghat,” said Mr. Mohanraj.
When contacted, sources in the Forest Department said that a joint inspection was conducted with the National Highways Wing of the State Highway Department recently. The Forest Department has urged the Highways Department to cease work in a number of areas along the Kallar to Coonoor stretch, as they believe that the latter was building roads on forest land and disturbing key elephant pathways.
Supriya Sahu, additional chief secretary to the government of Tamil Nadu (Environment, Climate Change and Forests) on Wednesday, tweeted out the video of the elephants in Hillgrove, stating, “Distressing to see that this herd of elephants had to negotiate their way through danger filled railway track [sic]. Need to have a mandatory Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for all infra agencies towards sensitive wildlife friendly design and execution.”
Ms. Sahu told The Hindu that the Wildlife Trust of India had drawn up an elaborate action plan for infrastructure projects that if followed, will result in maintaining wildlife pathways and corridors. “We will hold a sensitisation programme for all government departments, insisting that these guidelines be followed in the future,” said Ms. Sahu, adding that she hoped that these guidelines will become SOPs in the future.