Nagpur: Head of Minister of Uddhav Thackeray has been urged to reconsider the decision from the principal of the Head of the Forest Conservator (PCCF) to send 13 captive elephants from Gadchiroli and Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) to the Reliance Rehabilitation Center managed in Jamnagar in Gujarat.
Members of the Wildlife Council of Bandu Dhotre in a letter to Thackeray said that instead of the elephant shift to another state, the government must cash on the opportunity to develop elephant tourism in Kamlapur camp in the district withdraw from Gadchiroli.
The PCCF (wildlife) has proposed to shift seven elephants from Gadchiroli and six of TATR to Reliance Radhe Krishna Elephant Welfare Trust, Jamnagar.
This step becomes the teeth of opposing and nails by political parties and social activists in the land that are not developing their own facilities and creating opportunities for local residents, the country is to submit Tuskers to Gujarat.
Already without taking any effort, Kamlapur camp has become a tourist hotspot because many visitors from Gadchiroli and Telangana come to see the elephant.
“Elephant herds live together for decades and share good bonds.
Every effort to separate elephants will not provide good expectations for them, “Dhotre said.
Dhotre said that Gadchiroli was one of the most retarded districts in Vidarbha despite having extraordinary tourism potential with today tigers, wild elephants and captivity in the district.
“A committee must be formed for the opportunity to improve work through tourism in this district,” he said.
In other communications for Thackeray, Suresh Chopne, President of Green Planet Society, Chandrapur, has also opposed the elephant shift to Gujarat.
“Developing tourism in the district is the only way to defeat Maois.
Why elephants are submitted to the private sector? This elephant is the pride of Gadchiroli, “Chopne said.
Chopne shows that Reliance is preparing a safari zoo in more than 300 hectares in Jamnagar and “there are all the possibilities that it will use elephants from Maharashtra for tourism purposes”.
“Even as some elephants have grown old, the department can use it for tourism and young elephants can be trained in southern lines to work protection,” Chopne said.
Previously, the part of activists served legal notifications for the ‘Elephant Project’ under the MOEF & CC and the State Forest Department against the granting permission to shift the elephant.
Notifications served by ‘Save Kamlapur-Patil Elephant Campaign’ through ASIM Lawyers Sarode and Bodhi Ramteke.