The tireless efforts of a voluntary organisation bore fruits on Monday as on the directives of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, elephants Moti and Champa will be unchained.
They were chained for almost seven years because they were allegedly showing aggressive nature. Now, the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Monday asked the Municipal Corporation authorities to construct an open enclosure for them.
After a petition filed by an organisation working for animals rights, the Madhya Pradesh High Court directed the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC)-run Kamala Nehru Zoo authorities to unchain them and construct an open enclosure for them. Zoo in-charge Uttam Yadav told that the construction of an open enclosure will be at an estimated cost of Rs 50 lakh and the work began about a week ago. The budget has been sanctioned by the IMC and an open enclosure is being constructed on a 1.5 acre area, with a water pond as well as fountains, to enable elephants to freely roam in it, so that visitors may watch them, he said.
The elephants have been in the zoo since the last 25 years and whenever the male elephant Moti was unchained, it attacked people and had also seriously injured a mahout. While hearing the petition, experts opined that because of their volatile nature, Moti and Champa could neither be set free in the zoo, nor released in the forest.