Daiji World: Chennai: Thursday,
23 July 2020.
In what
could the first action of its kind, Tamil Nadu will be sending back a captive
elephant long kept at a temple back to its home state Assam soon, said an
animal rights activist.
"To
a query under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the District Forest Office in
Madurai has said Deivanai of Sri Subramaniya Swamy Temple, Thiruparankundram
will be sent back to Assam," activist Anthony Clement Rubin told IANS.
Rubin
said Deivanai was first at the temple for years and was later shifted to the
Elephant Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre in Tiruchirappalli last month.
Citing
the reply to his RTI query, Rubin said Deivanai was shifted to the
rehabilitation centre on June 1, due to its bad temper which had resulted in
the death of its cavady (mahout's assistant) S. Kalidasan in May.
At the
Trichy centre, Deivanai injured seriously another cavady Charan and he is in a
hospital.
Another
animal rights activist Deepak Nambiar of Elephas Maximus Indicus Trust (EMIT)
told IANS that there are several unanswered questions in the whole issue.
"The
dead Kalidasan's family is yet to get any compensation from the government. He
is survived by his wife and a four-year-old child," Nambiar told IANS.
Nambiar
also asked which arm of the Tamil Nadu government will pay the compensation to
Kalidas' family and also to the seriously injured Charan and how did the state
Forest Department miss out on tracking the permission letter and letting
Deivanai continue staying at the temple for over three years.
Rubin
said the temple had taken the elephant on lease from its owner in Assam.
According
to the District Forest Office, Madurai, the ownership certificate was issued by
the Assam government and the Tamil Nadu government has issued a certificate of
permission to possess the elephant.
However,
the certificate of possession had expired on April 29, 2017 and was not
renewed.
Nambiar
said Deivanai was originally named Prerona and owned by Lila Bora of Assam.
He also
demanded that the M.R. Palayam Elephant Rescue Centre should release the CCTV
footage of what happened on the evening when Charan was attacked by Deivanai.
Nambiar
also wondered about the silence of the Project Elephant that is responsible for
all captive elephants on the certificate or ownership details of the animal.
According
to him, the dereliction of duties by the officials concerned has resulted in
illegal elephants retained by religious institutions and death of human beings.
He
alleged that the members of Tamil Nadu Captive Elephants Committee had visited
the captive elephants only twice between 2016 and December 2019.
Nambiar
also asked why the elephant was still at the temple when the Principal Chief
Conservator of Forests (PCCF), Chennai in 2014 had written to the Hindu
Religious and Charitable Endowments Department saying that his Assam
counterpart has given permission to sendPrerona/Deivanai to Sri Subramaniya
Swamy Temple for a period of three years.
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