Videos of a herd of elephants, who were unable to cross the station to go to the surrounding forest due to the wall, were shared widely on social media this week.
The Southern Railway on Thursday demolished a retaining wall at Hillgrove station in Nilgiris district, which was obstructing the movement of elephants.
Videos of a herd of elephants being unable to move to the station and the surrounding reserve forest due to the construction of a newly constructed wall in Hillgrove was shared widely on social media and mobile messaging applications. State government’s Additional Chief Secretary Supriya Sahu had tweeted the video of the elephants and appealed to the Railway Ministry to take steps to restore the path of the elephants.
After this, forest department personnel as well as officials of Salem Division of Southern Railway inspected the area on Thursday evening. Railways has given approval for the demolition of the retaining wall. Officials said the demolition work started on Thursday evening and was completed by Friday.
Ms Sahoo reacted on Twitter, saying: “When we work together we can come up with solutions [sic], The wall is being demolished. Great teamwork…” Ms. Sahu had appreciated the efforts of the Forest Department and also thanked the Ministry of Railways for their prompt decision to approve the demolition.
Forest department sources said they would continue to chart the routes used by the elephants to climb from Kallar to Coonoor Ghat. An official said, “We will find out whether there is any infrastructure that has been created by government departments or private parties which is obstructing the movement of elephants and ensure that the blockage is removed or the movement of the elephant.” But have no effect.” ,
Recently, the National Highways Wing of the State Highways Department has also replaced the traditional paths used by elephants with road extension work blocking the road between Kallar and Coonoor and walls blocking the routes used by the pachyderms. charged with maintaining
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