Madras High Court Justices V. Bharathidasan and N. Sathish Kumar, inspected road expansion works along the Coonoor to Mettupalayam Road on Sunday. They inspected the impact the expansion work had on elephant movement up the Coonoor ghat road. The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court had taken suo moto cognisance of the issue, after a video of a herd of elephants struggling to cross the highway emerged a few weeks ago.
The justices, who were joined by Additional Chief Secretary, Environment, Climate Change and Forests, Supriya Sahu, Nilgiris Collector S.P. Amrith and officials from the Forest, Revenue and State Highways Departments, inspected three of the nine spots identified by the Forest Department, where they believe road expansion works were affecting elephant movement.
Officials said construction along the three ways had led to vertical cutting of slopes and construction of retaining walls, where elephant movement was being impacted.
