BHUBANESWAR: The electrocution of seven jumbos at Kamalanga in Dhenkanal on Saturday, the biggest-ever elephant tragedy in Odisha, has sparked a blame-game between the Forest and Energy departments. However, the heart-wrenching incident appears to be a clear case of administrative highhandedness and lack of inter-department and intra-department coordination.
In spite of a letter from Dhenkanal Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) in November 2017 to take corrective measures to increase the height of the 11 KV wire dangling in Kamalanga region, the Central Electricity Supply Utility of Odisha (CESU) chose to keep mum. The callousness of the Energy department and CESU officials towards preventing electrocution deaths of elephants is evident from the fact that cabling work is yet to start for a stretch of 136 kms of LT lines passing through vulnerable elephant corridor in Dhenkanal.
Not only the Energy Department, Forest and Environment department too has its share in the tragedy. Forest and Environment Minister Bijayshree Routray squarely blamed Energy department for the mishap. But, what he failed to point out was the lack coordination among field officials of his own department and no proper mechanism to track the movements of elephants, especially during night. A herd of 13 elephants had strayed into Kamalanga region late night on Friday. However, lack of coordination between forest officials of Angul and Dhenkanal divisions in tracking the movement of the herd and intensifying patrolling are major reasons behind the tragedy.
Dhenkanal DFO Sudarshan Patra said the elephant herd which was roaming inside Angul Forest division for the last two to three days entered Dhenkanal division between 12 am and 1 am on Friday and their division had not received any message from Angul division in this regard. He also admitted that there is no proper mechanism to track movement of elephants, particularly during night. “We don’t have any tracking mechanism during night,” Patra said, adding, “The field squads are alerted only when locals inform about movement of elephants in their area.”
Angul DFO V Kartik, however, rejected the claims of Dhenkanal DFO and said their ranger had informed RG Mohanty base camp on Angul-Dhenkanal border about movement of elephants towards Dhenkanal.
While the blame-game exposes administrative insensitivity, officials of both the departments seem to be in no mood to learn lessons from incidents occurred in past. A series of jumbo deaths due to unnatural reasons, has turned Odisha into a graveyard of elephants.
According to sources, the State has lost close to 175 elephants due to electrocution in 18 years. Statistics also suggest that every year around 11 elephant deaths occur due to electrocution. Though electrocution is mainly caused due to live wires, sagging overhead lines and electrified fences, steps are yet to be taken to address these issues and strengthen elephant tracking and patrolling mechanism.