‘Everybody’ in a race to transport elephants to Ahmedabad

AssamForest authorities, Veterinarians, transporters are in a great race to beat a 5day window to navigate not only through 3000 km road trip from Tinsukia toAhmedabad but through the legal tangles to catch the Ahmedabad Rath yatrabeginning on July 4 so that four elephants of Assam can reach in time.

Anunnamed yet but very powerful business house has offered the elephant to theRath Yatra of Ahmedabad and they hired the elephants on lease for six months fromthe owner of Assam for the ceremony.

Butthe environmentalist lobby feel that it was just a pretext and actually theelephants have been sold to the business house and only to circumnavigate the theSupreme Court ban of inter state sale of elephants such a long rope has been thrownin.

Butas the environmentalists approached court and railways refused to move themwithout legal clarity, it has become a race against time for the transporters,who are bent on to outsmart the legalities and reach the Ahmedabad temple premisedby July 1.

The Tuesdaycourt order was also ambiguous and that gave scope to the Forest authoritiesand the transporters to work in tandem to arrange the transportation and  please the business house authorities.

Noweven after two court orders, one from Supreme Court and other from the GauhatiHigh court, the business house have literally forced the Forest authorities ofAssam to burn midnight oil to ensure dispatch of elephants by tonight.

Accordingto latest reports from the ground, papers are prepared to circumnavigate theSupreme Court Order and take out elephants within next 24 hours by road in aconvoy 7 vehicles with four trucks carrying four elephants and support staff inthree other vehicles. A team of vets is also roped in.

TheElephants generally shall take a week time to travel the Tinsukia-Ahmedabaddistance, which has left the Forest authorities in a tight spot.   The Rath Yatra is starting on July 4 andelephant must reach by July 1 to take rest and get prepared.

Againa live animal can not be transported non stop. It has to stop 12 hours forevery 12 hours drive. So if the trucks leave by tonight or tomorrow, there is apossibility of reaching by July 1 and hence all are working round the clock tomake that happen.

But everyoneis amused by the power of that business house which forced entire Assam ForestDepartment and Assam Cabinet to not only toe their line but leave all otherworks.

Theway the top honchos of the Assam Forest Department is following this case andgoing all out to transport the elephants, as if that is the most urgent work ofthe department to save the forest of Assam.

Yesterdayhe Division Bench of the Gauhati High Court comprising of Chief Justice(Acting) Mr. Arup Kumar Goswami and Justice Manish Choudhury disposed of thePIL seeking intervention of the High Court in regard to the decision of theState Government taken to transport on lease for six months four elephants fromTinsukia in upper Assam to Ahmedabad in Gujarat for participating in the AnnualRath Yatra festival to be held from 4th of July, 2019.

TheDivision Bench by order dated 25.06.2019 (Tuesday) expressed that it is ill-fitto make any comment as to in what manner the elephants are to be transported.

Therefore,this obligation was passed by the Division Bench to the Principal ChiefConservator (Wildlife) and Chief Wild Life Warden, Assam to take the final callwho are responding by transporting the elephants by circumnavigating the legaltangles.