Uttarakhand High Court Directs State Govt To Declare Elephant Corridors In Jim Corbett/Ramnagar As ‘ESZ’
The Court also prohibited forest officials from using other obstructive methods, such as gunshots and electric fences, to prevent wild elephants from moving through the corridors and directed officials to protect the area's already-identified elephant corridors.
The Uttarakhand High Court directs the State government to declare the elephant corridors in the Jim Corbett National Park/Ramnagar Forest as ‘Eco-sensitive zones’ under the Environment Protection Act.
The court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Independent Medical Initiative Society, an NGO that sought directions to save the Elephant Corridors near Corbett National Park, namely, Malani-Kota, Chilkiya-Kota, and South Patlidun-Chilkiya, Elephant Corridors, to prevent any disruption in the natural movement of wild elephants using the said Elephant Corridors.
A division bench of Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Ramesh Chandra Khulbe also directed the concerned authorities to not permit any type of construction, such as hotels, resorts, or restaurants, within the identified elephant corridors in the area in question.
Court further directed the concerned authorities to depute competent and sufficient staff on either side of the elephant corridors to ensure the elephants' safe passage through the identified elephant corridors during the night hours between 10 pm and 4 am.
Court noted that the natural habitat of wild elephants has been encroached upon and obstructed by the construction of a road and resorts on revenue land along the Kosi River.
“Elephants' natural movement has been hampered as they are a nomadic breed that must move from one location to another in search of food and water”, the court added.
Counsel for the petitioner, Dushyant Mainali informed the court that on either side of the Kosi River, the elephants come to the river to get their water needs met, and they also cross the river to get to the other side of the forest.
Mainali further submitted that however, due to the construction of the road as well as the resorts along the river, the movement of the elephants has been hampered, and there have been numerous instances of man-elephant conflict. To this, the court noted that the Elephants are intelligent animals that have attempted to adapt to changes in topology and have begun to use areas that are still available as a movement corridor to cross the river and move from Jim Corbett National Park to the forest falling in Ramnagar Division and vice versa. Due to the heavy traffic on Ramnagar Mohaan Road during the day, they have begun crossing the road at night.
Furthermore, the bench also directed the concerned authorities:
- To not permit or undertake any additional road construction that crosses the identified elephant corridors without providing adequate infrastructure to allow unobstructed and safe movement of wild elephants across such roads.
- To not use chilli powder to keep elephants from moving through their corridors and also prohibited the use of any other obstructive methods, such as gunshots and electric fences, to prevent the movement of wild elephants in the corridors.
- To take steps, if necessary, to acquire land in the revenue area to maintain the identified elephant corridors.
Accordingly, Court listed the matter for December 12, 2022.
Case Title: Independent Medical Initiative Society v. State of Uttarakhand & Others