Land owners asked to submit representations to elephant corridor case committee

Land owners residing along the notified elephant corridor in the Sigur plateau have been urged to submit their grievances and supporting documents to the committee formed by the Supreme Court to look into their objections.

In a press release, L.C.S. Srikanth, Deputy Director of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (Buffer Zone), said the chairman of the committee, retired judge K. Venkatraman, would look into the complaints of the land owners, most of whom own resorts, in the Sigur plateau.

Those who wish to submit their recommendations to the committee can list their grievances in detail and submit supporting documents to the committee. The residents have been asked to take four copies of the documents they wish to submit, translate these to English and submit after properly numbering their representations. They have also been asked to submit an affidavit, along with three copies to the committee.

The documents can be submitted to the committee during the normal working hours and days between 10.30 a.m. in the morning and 5 p.m in the evening at the office located along the Gymkhana Club Road in Fingerpost, Udhagamandalam. Those who wish to submit their representations to the committee have been asked to do so before February 14, 2021.

The committee was formed by the Supreme Court after upholding the validity of the High court order declaring the elephant corridor in the Sigur plateau. The committee is to decide the individual objections of the appellants and any other persons claiming to be aggrieved by the Nilgiris Collector following the Supreme Court’s orders to seal and shut illegal resorts in the area and to take down any illegal fencing that hindered the movement of wildlife.

Justice Venkatraman has already made a number of visits to the Sigur plateau since the Supreme Court upheld the validity of the notification of the corridor in October.