Expressing concerns over the electrocution of elephants, the Orissa High Court has directed four power distribution companies in Odisha to chalk out a time-bound plan to survey of all villages which have witnessed movement, attacks, or crop destruction by wild animals, as well as those which have seen the deaths of wild animals due to electrocution.
The Orissa HC took strong exception to the deaths of 18 elephants and 20 people in man-elephant conflicts over the past two months. Of the 18 elephant deaths, four jumbos died after coming into contact with live power lines.
“In the considered view of the Court, not enough steps have been taken to prevent deaths of elephants due to electrocution in Odisha. This is despite the Comprehensive Action Plan being made available to the distribution companies for nearly two months now,” observed a division bench comprising Chief Justice S. Muralidhar and Judge G. Satapathy.
Surveying the damage
The bench directed the chief executive officers of four power distribution companies to convene a meeting within a week, and to create a time-bound plan for completing the survey of all villages in their respective zones which have seen wild animal movement, attacks or crop destruction, or where such animals have been electrocuted.
“It is absolutely essential for the power distribution companies to immediately identify all such instances of illegal hooking of electricity transmission lines to power such electric fences illegally put up in the villages and discontinue the practice forthwith,” the court said.
The power distribution company officials must undertake sensitisation meeting with villagers in coordination with forest officials, it added.
The comprehensive action plan calls for the distribution companies to take a series of steps, which include barricading open transformers, fixing interposing poles on both high tension and low tension lines, converting low tension bare conductors to aerial bundled cable, changing vacuum circuit breakers, maintaining primary substations, sensitising and periodically checking feeders, and fitting spikes in electric poles.
