Sigur elephant corridor case committee chairman visits the landscape

The chairman of a three-member committee formed by the Supreme Court to look into the objections of the land-owners in the Sigur elephant corridor, visited parts of the corridor on Tuesday.

Justice K. Venkatraman, former judge of the Madras High Court, visited parts of the notified elephant corridor. The Nilgiris district Collector J. Innocent Divya and Field Director of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) K.K.Kaushal accompanied him.

The two other members of the committee are Ajay Desai, who is consultant for the Worldwide Fund for Nature (India) and member of the technical committee, National Elephant Action Plan, and Praveen Bhargava, Trustee of Wildlife First. Neither of whom were present on Tuesday.

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’s actions following the Supreme Court’s orders to seal and shut illegal resorts in the area and to take down any illegal fencing which hindered the movement of wildlife.

The committee is to consider the objections filed before it and grant all parties an opportunity to be heard. The parties have been asked to file documents in support of their respective contentions before the inquiry committee.