Ari Komban, the wild tusker, who is holding the residents in Idukki district’s Chinnakanal settlement colony on tender hooks for the last three months returned on Thursday to terrorise them. On Wednesday, the Chinnakanal area wore a look of festivity as the Kerala High Court on Tuesday had ordered that the pachyderm be tranquilized and translocated to Parambikulam Reserve Forest.
But by Thursday Ari Komban accompanied by a group of female elephants struck back and demolished house of George, a resident who was in the forefront of agitation demanding former’s translocation. Fortunately for George, he and family members had gone to the hospital. In the melee, Ari Komban and his gang not only pulled down the roof of the house and took away the food the women in the family had cooked for them.
The gang made a quick retreat as forest guards and the locals turned up in big numbers bursting crackers and beating heavy drums. We just want to get rid of this public nuisance from this place,” M M Mani, local MLA and former minister for power told reporters. Meanwhile the residents of Parambikulam suburbs, especially CPI-M activists came out in open against move to transport the tusker to their locality. “There is no guarantee that this elephant would not attack people here.
Let them take him to some captive camp and train him,” said K Babu, MLA representing Nenmara assembly constituency under which comes Parambikulam reserve. He said there were more than 3,000 people staying in the suburb of Parambikulam.
“This include tribals as well as workers of the Parambikulam-Aliyar Project, a river water sgaring system between Kerala and Tamil Nadu . We do not want to put their lives in risk,” said Babu of the CPI-M in his letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The mission to translocate angry young elephant is all set to begin after Easter Sunday.