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Orissa HC asks power companies to prepare plans to prevent elephant deaths
The bench asked the chief executive officers of four power distribution companies to convene a meeting within a week
Expressing its anguish over rising death of elephants due to electrocution, the Orissa high court has directed four power distribution companies in Odisha to prepare a time-bound plan to survey all villages that have seen movement, attacks, or crop destruction by wild animals, as well as those which have seen the deaths of such animals due to electrocution.
Taking a strong exception to the deaths of 18 elephants and 20 persons in man-elephant conflicts over the past two months of which four died of electrocution, a two judge bench of chief justice S Muralidhar and justice G Satapathy said enough steps have not been taken to prevent deaths of elephants due to electrocution in Odisha.
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“This is despite the Comprehensive Action Plan being made available to the distribution companies for nearly two months now. It is absolutely essential for the power distribution companies to immediately identify all such instances of illegal hooking of electricity transmission lines to power such electric fences illegally put up in the villages and discontinue the practice forthwith,” observed the division bench.
The bench asked the chief executive officers of four power distribution companies to convene a meeting within a week, and to create a time-bound plan for completing the survey of all villages in their respective zones which have seen wild animal movement, attacks or crop destruction, or where such animals have been electrocuted.
The comprehensive action plan entails taking a series of steps, including barricading open transformers, fixing interposing poles on both high tension and low tension lines, converting low tension bare conductors to aerial bundled cable, changing vacuum circuit breakers, maintaining primary substations, sensitising and periodically checking feeders, and fitting spikes in electric poles.
The HC said the matter can be taken up at the meeting of the CEOs of four electricity distribution companies scheduled to be held within a week.
In a separate order, the HC stayed the order by NGT (National Green Tribunal) on April 6 asking the state government to notify 14 elephant corridors.
On April 6, the NGT had granted one month time to the state for notifying the elephant corridors and warned that the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest & Head of Forest Force (PCCF) (wildlife) would be liable under section 26 of the National Green Tribunal Act.
The division bench noted that the court has in fact passed a series of orders in a pending PIL on the same issue of notification of an elephant corridor in Odisha.
“Parallel proceedings both in the NGT and this Court on the same issue is not desirable,” said the court, while listing the state’s petition for hearing along with the pending PIL.
