Orissa's forest graveyard
Debabrata Mohanty
Indian Express, Mon Oct 04 2010
Bhubaneswar
: While the mowing down of seven elephants in Dooars, West Bengal, by a
speeding goods train has led to a national outrage, there is not even a
murmur in Orissa's Wildlife Department even as scores of elephants in
the state are getting electrocuted almost every month. Early September,
two tuskers were killed in the state’s jungles, taking this year’s
elephant casualties to 32. In August, three elephants were killed at
Telkoi in Keonjhar by a low hanging power line. In 2009 alone, 16
elephants died due to electrocution in Orissa.
In spite of a
recent letter from Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh to Chief
Minister Naveen Patnaik to take steps to protect elephants, little has
been done to save them.
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