Study on to restore elephant corridors in the Nilgiris, govt. tells High Court

Detailed report to be submitted before the court after four weeks

The State government on Thursday told the Madras High Court that it has undertaken a comprehensive study with the assistance of international elephant experts and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) for the purpose of ensuring that elephant corridors and habitat belonging to the elephants in the Nilgiris area, if invaded, are restored to the forests and to the animals.

Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy were informed that the Forest Department would submit a detailed report before the court, after four weeks, on the basis of the findings of the study. The report would assist the court in passing necessary orders on a public interest litigation petition alleging large-scale encroachments in elephant corridors.

Animal lover S. Muralidharan had filed the PIL petition complaining about presence of illegal brick kilns around the elephant corridor in Thadagam valley in Coimbatore district.

Taking serious note of such a complaint, the court had directed the government to act against the illegal kilns and also called for reports on restoring the elephant corridors.