The people of Assam take pride in Kaziranga–a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Northeast India–best known as the abode of the Greater One-horned Rhino. The laborious effort of all stakeholders for over a century made Kaziranga one of the most successful conservation models in the world. Travelers marvel at the record number of species seen within a short time that includes the Royal Bengal Tiger, the Asiatic Wild Buffalo, the Eastern Swamp Deer, and the majestic Asian Elephant in a unique landscape dotted with swamps and savannahs.
Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve (KNPTR) has over the years become a major tourist destination in the country. High visitor numbers and increased revenue have measured the destination’s success over the years while actually Kaziranga has been grappling with challenges from an unchecked growth of the hospitality industry in the close confines of the prime wildlife habitat. Critical wildlife corridors have increasingly encroached on by private parties for investment in the hospitality sector putting enormous pressure on land use patterns, natural habitat loss and stress on endangered species. There had already been too many constructions allowed in the close confines of the Park– mostly in the Kohora and the Bagori ranges–and many more under construction, posing a grave threat to the Park’s fragile ecosystem.
Recently, proposals for the construction of a five-star hotel/resort and spa in the Kaziranga landscape have been met with strong opposition from local communities, civil society groups, and wildlife experts. One of the proposed sites– Hathikuli Inglay Pothar– has been a traditional elephant refuge in the Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong landscape and locals allege that they are now forcefully evicted from this government land—where they grew crops and lived in harmony with nature—to make way for a five-star hotel by Hyatt Hotels.
Concerns have been that any alteration/obstruction in the migrating pathways of elephants and other wildlife would prove disastrous and the adjoining neighborhoods/villages would bear the brunt of human-wildlife conflict as a consequence. Despite the controversy, the Assam government went ahead with the plans and recently signed an MoU with the Tata Group for a 120-crore rupee five-star hotel in Hathikuli Tea Estate in Kaziranga. Hatikhuli–as the name would suggest– is frequented by elephants. It is more obvious during high flood when wild animals– rhinos, tigers, wild buffaloes, deer, etc.–escaping flood waters, are seen crossing the national highway to seek refuge in the Karbi Anglong Hills adjacent to the proposed sites. These areas act as natural high grounds for a variety of wildlife during floods.
However, the plans for luxury hotels in Kaziranga faced a legal hurdle as the National Green Tribunal (NGT) took suo motu cognizance of the case on August 7 and NGT’s principal bench transferred the case to the Green Tribunal’s Eastern Zone for further hearing on the matter.
Land outside the protected area (PA) regime can be owned by communities or private land owners but wildlife does not recognize these demarcations and so we find wildlife beyond the PA boundaries. Keeping in mind the finite carrying capacities of ecologically fragile landscapes, tourism activities inside wildlife-bearing areas must fall under regulations. There has been an existing order passed by the Supreme Court in April 2019, banning construction of any kind on private lands that form part of the corridors.
Industrial expansion in wildlife-bearing areas: too much of a risk
On July 18, 2024, an adult female elephant was found electrocuted inside the township area of Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) in Golaghat district. NRL Authorities buried the body of the wild elephant without informing the forest department. When the incident came to light, forest officials reached the site and exhumed the carcass. A case was registered and two senior officials NRL were booked for burying the carcass without permission from the forest department which is a violation of the Wildlife Protection Act.
The Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus), enjoys the highest protection legally. It is a Schedule 1 protected species under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. The burying of the carcass without informing the forest department raised doubts about the foul play involved in the death of the elephant and further concerns about evidence tampering. The site where the elephant died from electrocution caused by an exposed cable, is known as the Butterfly Valley. It is the presence of salt licks that attract both butterflies and elephants to the area adjacent to Deopahar Reserve Forest. Deopahar also serves as an important transit on the traditional route elephants travel between Kaziranga and Karbi Anglong hills.
“In the 1990s, Numaligarh Refinery Limited cleared vast tracts of forest land near Telgaram to make way for its oil refinery. NRL built a two-kilometre-long boundary wall inside the Deopahar Forest. This huge barrier prevents elephants from following their historical routes,” says a forest official who asked to remain anonymous. Consequently, the animals frequently raid crops in nearby areas such as Doigrung, Morongi, Falangani, Bokial, and Kalioni.
The expansion of NRL’s town area and construction of a 2.2 km boundary wall to secure the area in 2011 severely impeded elephant movement. In a number of cases elephant calves, separated from the herd, were found trapped inside these erections. The pachyderms were often seen hitting the walls trying to get rid of the barrier. In 2016, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) ordered the demolition of the boundary wall constructed in the “no development zone” issued by the Central Ministry of Environment and Forest in 1996. The order of 2016 also said that NRL’s proposed township should not come up in the present location.
The then-serving Divisional Forest Officer of Golaghat, Mutthu Kumar Ravel stressed finding alternative sites for expansion. “NRL should have developed a wasteland and built its township and not by destroying forests, corridors, and ecosystem at the cost of the state as well as present and future generations”.
The NRL filed a review petition challenging the National Green Tribunal (NGT)’s 2016 order. The review application was dismissed on the grounds “that the area where the wall came up and the area where the proposed township is to come up is part of the Deopahar Reserve Forest, rehearing on merits is not permissible.” The NGT asked NRL to pay ?25 lakh to the Assam Forest Department for the “destruction of forest cover” and flattening of a hill to build a golf course and also directing it to go for “compensatory afforestation of 10 times the number of trees felled” to build the wall. On January 18, 2019, the Supreme Court dismissed NRL’s review petition challenging the National Green Tribunal (NGT) 2016 order. The illegal boundary wall was finally pulled down in 2024.
Tracks of death
In the wee hours of July 9, 2024, a wild elephant was knocked down by the speeding 13173 Howrah-Silchar Kanchanjunga Express near the Jagiroad Rail Station in Assam’s Morigaon district. It was a pathetic sight to witness the male pachyderm trying to get up but finally succumbing to its injuries. The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) officials stated that there were no speed restrictions as the area is not an elephant corridor.
However, differing with the NFR statement, the Assam Water Resources and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pijush Hazarika wrote a letter to the state forest Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary conveying his concern and stressing the need for preventive measures to secure wildlife areas—“Elephants are an integral part of Assam’s ecosystem. If deemed fit the ambit of such measures may be expanded to areas where elephant activity has recently increased such as Jagiroad.” The area of the mishap falls under Hazarika’s constituency. The Minister further added that there were a couple of similar incidents earlier in that area although the place is not known to be an elephant corridor.
With the lack of a working definition of a corridor, identification of the same had been fraught with difficulties. Recent data shows an increase in a number of elephant corridors with the expansion in the pachyderm’s ranges. However, in Assam, random growth of industries, plantations, settlements, mining, clearing of forest and infrastructure development in their traditional migrating routes forced these long-ranging mega herbivores to change routes and frequent newer areas.
While concerned departments passed the buck to one another, the alarming rate in the number of elephant deaths on railway tracks continued. As elephants search for food and water, they roam over a large extent of the area through villages and towns, crossing railway lines where they end up getting hit by trains. In the year 2022, reports of the death of some 11 jumbos in a week created headlines. Three of those 11 died when the Rajdhani Express hit them. It was in 2016, the Indian Railways instructed its officials to reduce train speed to 30 km per hour when crossing elephant corridors. Just four days after this instruction came, on December 17, a train engine mowed down three elephants including a calf. Seven elephants perished on railway tracks that month.
Assam government data mentions the death of some 102 elephants when they were hit by trains between 2001 and 2022. On March 16, 2023, Forest Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary responding to a question by Congress legislator Rekibuddin Ahmed informed the Assam Assembly that –“1, 330 elephants have died between 2001 and 2022, with the highest number of deaths reported in 2013 when 107 pachyderms died, followed by 97 in 2016 and 92 in 2014.” The Minister gave the reasons for elephant deaths as: Natural causes–509; Electrocution–202; Train hits—102; Poisoning—65; Cause of death unknown—261; Poaching– 40 and Lightning strike—18.
The Graveyard
Elephants remain an integral part of our culture, heritage and religion. In Assam, some legends speak of the elephant as the wisest of all creatures and that these creatures would know the time of their death and the place—a barren hill–where they would be able to go to die in peace, hidden from the eyes of men. The legend turned out to be a fact when on May 13, 2021, some 18 elephants were found dead atop a hill– Bamuni Pahar–in the Kondoli Proposed Reserve Forest (PRF) in Assam’s Nagaon district.
The then Forest Minister, Parimal Suklabadya, formally declared the cause of the incident to be “accidental electrocution by lightning” and tried to confirm it with multiple reports of pathological and forensic tests. However, the lightning theory was hard to grasp without concrete proof. People expressed dissatisfaction with the way investigations were concluded and suspected foul play in the shocking death of 18 elephants. There had been many unanswered questions as to how a solar power plant on the migrating route of elephants has come up and how the power project managed a No Objection Certificate from the forest department itself.
Data available in the public domain reveals—“Azure Power Forty Private Ltd. has been accorded clearance to develop 90MW of solar power by Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd (APDCL). Of this allocation, the company has chosen to develop a 15 MW installed capacity solar power project over 93 acres of land at Mikir Bamuni Grant village in Nagaon district. Villagers have reported, and the FFC has confirmed, that the lands for this project have been secured illegally denying local indigenous communities their due right over the land.” (The Anatomy of a Solar Land Grab– Report of a Fact-Finding Committee). The Fact-Finding Committee clearly states—“That the land where the company is setting up the solar power project is part of an active elephant corridor, hence ecologically sensitive”
No legal protection for corridors and elephant reserves
Assam has five elephant reserves —Sonitpur, Dehing Patkai, Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong, Dhansiri-Lungding and Chirang-Ripu. Many projects have been approved through these reserves that include mining projects to oil rigs; solar power projects to industrial parks. Without legal protection corridors and elephant reserves are under continuous threat.
In April 2020, India’s National Board for Wildlife recommended approval of a proposal by a Coal India Limited subsidiary to mine 98.6 hectares of forestland in the Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve. However, strong protests forced the Forest Department to intervene and the company had to suspend its mining activities.
Patanjali Herbal and Mega Food Park near Tezpur, Assam hit headlines when an elephant calf fell into a 10-foot deep pit at a project site. The incident occurred in the wee hours of November 24, 2016. Soon the mother, trying to get hold of the calf, fell into the pit and sustained serious injuries when a full-grown male elephant fell atop her. While the male elephant managed to come out and forest officials rescued the calf, the female elephant died at the accident site.
Pramila Rani Brahma, then serving as Assam forest minister warned of strict action against defaulters–“The area is known for frequent elephant movement, what appears is that the industrial park land given to Patanjali is part of an elephant corridor.”
Elephants fighting a losing battle for survival
The Udalguri district is home to nearly 10% of the world’s Asian elephants, including 40% of India’s. But, as elsewhere in Assam, the species has lost vital habitat including migrating routes with forests cleared for tea-growing. Data from the Assam Forest Department shows 50%of the area of Reserved Forests on the district’s borders with Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh have been cleared for tea-growing and other uses.
“Deaths of elephant calves from drowning, falling in mud pits or drainage ditches are not listed. Drainage ditches in tea plantations have become a hazard for elephant calves. Such incidents are reported each year from around the state and mostly from the Udalguri district,” said Jayanta Kumar Das, a wildlife activist.
Elephants are considered ‘endangered’ globally, fighting a losing battle for survival each day across their once-known strongholds. When the natural habitat of animals is destroyed, it leads to a decline in their primary food supply and breeding grounds and their numbers get drastically reduced. These mega-faunas–with large home range and food requirements– have been among the species most affected by habitat alteration and loss of habitat connectivity. It is an unsustainable development agenda that has become a challenge for the survival of Asian elephants in some of their last bastions, believes experts.
More than half of the elephant habitat in India’s Northeast region has been lost since 1950. Habitat loss also brings long-term, invisible risks to these largest terrestrial mammals by limiting genetic exchange among populations. “This makes it vital to monitor the genetic health of elephant populations and maintain corridors that the animals can use to travel safely between patches of habitat,” says Anupam Sarmah, an elephant expert from Sonitpur district.