Elephants struggle to cross site where road expansion work is ongoing

A recent video of a herd of elephants struggling to cross the National Highway due to extensive road expansion work near Marapallam was shared on mobile messaging applications. The incident occurred on Wednesday.

In the video, the elephant herd can be seen descending the Coonoor ghat and are faced with linear infrastructure that blocks their traditional migratory path. The matriarch of the herd leads the elephants down the highway. However, members of the public chase the herd, which descends to the railway line below through a construction area where road expansion work is ongoing.

A Coonoor resident, who photographed the herd, said that elephants were known to use the area where road expansion work was under way as a crossing point to ascend the Coonoor ghat from the Kallar corridor. “The calf that was with the herd suffered a fall while descending the slope, but thankfully, it didn’t seem to suffer any injuries,” he said.

Linear infrastructure projects along the Coonoor ghat, such as road expansion and revetment walls along the Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) line have come in for criticism from conservationists and local government officials alike in recent months. A video of an elephant herd unable to climb up the Coonoor ghat from Hillgrove station due to the recent construction of revetment walls led to an inspection by the State’s chief wildlife warden who identified a number of such walls that required demolishment.

The Forest Department also ordered road construction work be halted in a number of places as there were concerns that the highways department was expanding the road in land belonging to the Forest Department.

When contacted, S.M.Sasikumar, Forest Range Officer (Nilgiris division), said that the elephant herd was being monitored and that the highways department has been told to ensure that the construction is completed with a gap in the revetment wall to ensure that there is a pathway for the pachyderms to pass through. The slope will also be flattened and fitted with a ramp that will allow elephants to walk through, he added.