Case registered against Assam refinery for burying wild elephant
The Hindu
cForest Department investigates NRL for burying wild elephant carcass, sparking controversy and legal action.
GUWAHATI:
The Assam Forest Department has registered a case against a public sector refinery in central Assam’s Golaghat district after its employees buried the carcass of a wild elephant without information.
The adult female elephant was electrocuted after coming in contact with an exposed armour cable in a park adjoining the township of Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) on July 18 (Thursday) morning.
Located about 20 km from the southern edge of the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve, the refinery has often been at the centre of human-elephant conflict as its township.
“The elephant was found dead in the park around 8 a.m. on Thursday but the refinery authorities informed us in the evening after the animal’s carcass was buried. This is a serious blunder as the elephant is a Schedule 1 species and we registered a case under the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972,” Golaghat’s Divisional Forest Officer, Sushil K. Thakuria said.
He said the elephant could have been electrocuted but that was no reason for the township people to bury it without informing the Forest Department first.
Officials of the department exhumed the carcass on July 19 and carried out a post-mortem after registering the case. The autopsy report is expected by Tuesday.