ALAPPUZHA: Elephant owners and festival organisers violate rules on shifting elephants on vehicles putting public life at risk.
Captive Elephant (Management and Maintenance) Rules were amended in 2012 from ‘district to district’ to ‘state to state’ transportation when K.B. Ganesh Kumar, president of Elephant Owners Association, was serving as forest minister.
Soon, owners began transporting elephants without obtaining fitness certificate from the motor vehicle department and permission from assistant conservator of forest (ACF).
Mullakkal Balakrish-nan was was paraded two days consecutively at Thrikkakara temple. He was transported to Alappuzha soon after festivities ended at 1 am on Tuesday, without proper rest and check up by vets.
Rules issued by the principal chief wildlife warden to district collectors in 2012 says “veterinarians must ensure the health condition of elephants before being moved from one place to another”. In this case, neither vet nor ACF examined him.
As per sub-clause of 22, 26 and 27 of clause IX (transport norms of an elephant) under the 2012 Rules, the truck shall have a minimum length of 420 cm, and tyre shall be of size 900-20. Each vehicle shall have footsteps proportional to the width of the vehicle, and each footstep shall have a minimum width of 100 cm.
The vehicle shall be strengthened using steel pipes or wooden poles which shall cover at least half the height of the elephant. The horizontal pipes/poles shall be provided on all four sides to hold on to the front bar with its trunk.
The elephant should be kept at least 60 cm away from the cabin portion. Fitness certificate obtained for the vehicle from vehicle department should be submitted to the concerned officer authorised under subsection (1) of section 48(A) of the Act.
The contact telephone number shall be displayed on the vehicle for concerned persons whenever an emergency arises, and both the elephant and mahouts shall be given adequate rest to the conclusion of each transport.
Though officials from the office of Alappuzha ACF said the vehicle had a permit having a validity of a year, it’s understood that the ACF has initiated a detailed enquiry on how the jumbo jumped out of a moving vehicle, which remains a mystery.
M. N. Jayachandran, member, Kerala State Animal Welfare Board said Balakrishnan was a blind elephant. He suggested a special enquiry by a team of vets, the district collector, ACF and the board members.
"The elephant was transported without obtaining a proper permission from the ACF of Ernakulam of Alappuzha. Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), its custodian, must be booked under the Wildlife Protection Act for violating elephant parading rules," he said.
Confirming that the festivities at Thrikkakara temple was over at 1 am, Ernakulam ACF K.J. Martin Lowell told DC that the elephant got no proper rest before being taken to Alappuzha. "That was the reason why it jumped out and ran amok," he said.
