Elephant death in NRL township triggers row

Guwahati, July 22: The death of a wild elephant in the Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) Township has more than what meets the eyes, with there being an apparent attempt to suppress matters by the Forest Department.

This is borne out by the fact that the Forest department, the nodal agency and the first responders to the crime involving violation of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, failed to lodge a police complaint even after three days of the incident.

Initially, the NRL Township authorities hurriedly buried the dead elephant on July 18 to avoid "trouble" but following interventions from its higher authorities, the matter was brought to the notice of the Forest Department. The carcass was then exhumed and the postmortem was done, which attributed the death to suspected electrocution.

When asked about the issue, a top police official told The Assam Tribune that the Forest department had yet to lodge an FIR with the police and that a couple of public complaints only had been received.

"It is the Forest Department that should have acted immediately by filing a police complaint over the Wildlife Protection Act violation, it being the nodal agency. Had it been a case of poaching involving firearms, we could have swung into action on the grounds of violation of the Arms Act. No case has been registered by the Forest department till this evening,” the police official said.

A forest official said that they were doing an internal investigation into the matter. “We have collected some samples like dangling wires from the site,” he added.

Conservationists have decried the lack of alacrity and sincerity on the part of the Forest Department, terming it as shocking and disgusting.

"It is shocking that no police case has been filed by the Forest department even after three days of the crime. The NRL authorities had first hushed up the matter by burying the carcass without intimating the Forest Department. But the Forest department is doing even worse by desisting from initiating legal action against the offenders," Mubina Akhtar, general secretary of Kaziranga Wildlife Society, said.

The NRL Township has been at the centre of a raging human-elephant conflict for years after it had come up on prime elephant territory and a corridor. As recently as in April 2024, a portion of the township wall was dismantled by the district administration to clear the elephant corridor following a directive to that effect by the Gauhati High Court.

“The entire area has been an elephant habitat together with a corridor for centuries. The Butterfly Park where the elephant was electrocuted attracts elephants because of the existence of salt-licks. The NRL should immediately clear the area for allowing safe passage to elephants," Akhtar said.

-By Sivasish Thakur