NEW DELHI: SC Monday resolved to make right to freedom of movement for elephants meaningful by mandating the Union govt to conduct a fresh survey to identify which states have built walls or dug trenches on the pachyderms’ inter-state migration corridors.“There can be no obstacle, no blockade or impediment in the movement of elephants from one state to another. It is unacceptable,” a bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said on a plea seeking protection of the elephant corridor in West Bengal.It asked additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati to convey the court’s concern to the ministry of environment and forest and ask it to conduct a survey on the status of elephant corridors in different states. When petitioner Prerna Singh Bindra’s counsel pointed out the specific problem in Bengal, Justice Bagchi said, “The problem in Bengal is that herds of elephants from Nepal and north Bengal move into Odisha and Chhattisgarh, but these two states have built walls on their migratory path.
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”CJI Kant said creation of such impediments was unacceptable and that “states cannot escape responsibility of maintaining elephant corridors for free migration of the herds merely because of damage to crops, complaints from farmers and hardship to villagers. The solution is not blocking the elephant corridors but lies somewhere else”.The bench said the ministry’s guidelines on maintaining the corridors must be complied with mandatorily. When Bhati informed the court such a survey was conducted in 2023, the court asked govt to conduct a fresh survey.Justice Bagchi said govt must create synergy with states: “The elephant corridors are not state specific. Elephants travel across states.” CJI Kant said if there were traditional migration routes, how could any state block it?Giving govt eight weeks to submit a status report on the fresh survey, SC said the report must also indicate the status of implementation of ban on use of firearms, explosives or fire torches to divert elephant herds from their natural migration routes.
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