Mission Arikompan: High Court-appointed committee to visit Chinnakkanal on Monday
The Hindu
The High Court-appointed five-member committee will visit Chinnakkanal on Monday and interact with people in human-elephant conflict areas.
The High Court-appointed five-member committee will visit Chinnakkanal on Monday and interact with people in human-elephant conflict areas. According to sources, the team will visit 301 Colony, one of the main areas in Chinnakkanal panchayat to come under elephant attack, and review the present condition of the settlement area. The committee will visit the area before submitting its report to the court on April 5 regarding the proposal to capture a wild tusker locally called Arikompan.
According to sources, the expert committee is in favour of fixing a radio collar on Arikompan and relocating it to a deep forest. “The Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) is being considered for relocation,” said the source.
P.N. Sunil, Idukki district committee member of the Kerala Independent Farmers Association (KIFA), said they had requested the expert committee to interact with the local people of Sinkukandam before submitting its report.
The residents of Sinkukandam and 301 Colony, meanwhile, continued their day-night protest at Sinkukandam on the second day. The people had launched the protest demanding that the High Court-appointed committee hear them before submitting its report.
The joint action council formed to demand the capture of the tusker started a protest at Poopara in Idukki on Saturday. The family members of those killed in the wild elephant attack and those who suffered losses due to the elephant attack joined the protest.
Devikulam range officer P.V. Vegi said Arikompan reached the kumki (trained) elephant camp at Cement Palam near Chinnakkanal around 5 p.m. on Saturday. “When the tusker’s presence was noticed, the forest department staff chased it away,” said Mr. Vegi. Four kumki elephants from the Muthanga elephant camp are halting at Cement Palam to help capture Arikompan. A department official said the kumki elephants would remain at Chinnakanal till April 5.
Mr. Vegi said that Arikompan was in ‘musth’ and the Forest department had been tracking its movement.
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