The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the closure of 27 resorts with restaurants running in the elephant corridor along Nilgiris after a report prepared by the District Collector indicated that the properties did not possess any approval. The court directed the State Government to carry out the sealing action within 48 hours.
The elephant corridor, situated at Nilgiris, runs across a length of 22.64 kilometre and a breadth of 1.5 kilometre, serving as the only viable connectivity for about 900 elephants between the Eastern Ghats and the Western Ghats. Going through the detailed report of the Collector, the bench of Justices Madan B lokur, Deepak Gupta and S Abdul Nazeer noted that a total of 39 resorts operated in the corridor area of which 27 were such that had approval for residential purpose but were run as commercial property. The remaining 12 were such which were unverified.
For the 27 resort owners no lawyer appeared which made the Court believe that they accepted the report and hence were ordered to be closed. The bench directed the owners of the remaining 12 resorts and hotels to place their documents of approval before the Collector within 48 hours giving them a second chance to prove their bonafides. The Court further directed that if they fail to prove approval, the Collector shall ensure they are closed down immediately.
The Court was shocked to see how such large scale encroachment was allowed to come up in the first place leading to frequent man-animal conflict. The bench remarked that elephants were the "national heritage" and their protection must be given top priority.
The Centre informed the Court that communications were sent to all states having elephant corridors to respond on the steps being taken to preserve elephants and avoid man-animal conflict. There are 27 "critical" elephant corridors in 22 states. The Centre stated that despite reminders issued on August 2, the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan have not responded to the communication.
As per the Census Report 2017, the states of Rajasthan and Punjab do not have wild elephants and the funds received from the Centre under the Project Elephant Scheme are being used for welfare of captive elephants. The State of UP and Mizoram told the Union Government that none of the listed elephant corridors are passing through these states.
The Standing Committee for National Board of Wildlife in its recent meeting considered various suggestions to secure elephant corridors across the country for safe passage of elephants and other endangered animals by way of acquisition of land falling in the corridors and to explore the feasibility of declaring such corridors as eco-sensitive zones.