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Convoy transporting elephants from AP to Gujarat stopped by locals in Assam
Assam police’s inspector general (law and order) Prasanta Kumar Bhuyan claimed that nobody in the state stopped the convoy. He told HT that the elephants were moved from Arunachal Pradesh through Assam and they created a safe corridor to pass them, no one tried to stop the convoy
A group of people in Assam’s Tinsukia district late Thursday night blocked the Kakopathar-Makum bypass near Rongajan and stopped a convoy of 49 vehicles coming from Arunachal Pradesh’s transporting 25 wild elephants claiming that the elephants were being smuggled, police said.
“These trucks coming from Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border areas, have number plates of Gujarat. We suspect that these elephants are being smuggled. Not just Arunachal, there are elephants from Assam loaded in these trucks,” said the people who stopped the vehicles.
Officials said after the commotion, a police team from the Tinsukia district quickly arrived at the spot and tried to clear the road, however, locals demanded clarification and proper documents. The situation was brought under control after the forest officials showed the court order for the transportation of jumbos, said officials.
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Meanwhile, Assam police’s inspector general (law and order) Prasanta Kumar Bhuyan claimed that nobody in the state stopped the convoy. He told HT that the elephants were moved from Arunachal Pradesh through Assam and they created a safe corridor to pass them, no one tried to stop the convoy.
“The elephants were moved under the Supreme Court’s order and we provided adequate security in our state. The convoy passed Assam’s territory safely,” he said.
About the blockade, he said, “Nobody can raise questions on Supreme Court’s order. As per our reports, there were no obstructions in the movement of the convoy in Assam.”
According to officials, the wild jumbos were being shifted to Gujarat’s Jamnagar from Arunachal’s Namsai forest area. These elephants will be handed over to Radhe Krishna Temple Elefant Welfare Trust (RKTEWT), an organisation supported by Reliance Industries Limited (RIL).
RKTEWT, which provides life-long care to animals, has been receiving elephants from across the country since 2013. The RIL is also in the process of developing a large private zoo near its refinery complex in Moti Khavdi village in Jamnagar.
Tripura high court on November 7 last year constituted a high-powered committee (HPC) headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Deepak Verma (retd) to keep a vigil on transporting elephants from the Northeast region to Gujarat.
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On March 3, this expanded the jurisdiction of the committee and gave it a pan-India mandate to deal with any approval or grievance regarding the transfer or procurement of wild animals by any rehabilitation centre or zoo in the country.
The SC bench in its order wrote, “The committee shall be at liberty to recommend transfer of ownership of captive animals or of seized wild animals to any willing rescue centre or zoo for their immediate welfare, care and rehabilitation.”
In the past, elephants were shifted from northeastern states to Gujarat several times, mostly from Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.
