Elephant Deaths: NGT Slaps Rs 1 Crore Penalty On CESU

New Delhi: In the wake of the electrocution of seven elephants inside the forest near Kamalanga village in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district on October 26, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Tuesday slapped a penalty of Rs 1 crore on the Central Electricity Supply Utility (CESU).

Notably, the green panel had filed a case suo motu against CESU over the incident following reports published in the print and electronic media.

Hearing the case, a division bench of the NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel slapped a penalty of Rs 1 crore on CESU and directed the three-member committee of the Tribunal to visit the site where the mishap had taken place, for an on-the-spot investigation and submit a report.

A herd of 13 wild elephants had entered their village on October 27. While passing through the village, seven of them came in contact with a live wire pulled at a height of about eight feet above the ground and died on the spot.

According to reports, the railway authorities had assigned a company for the construction of a railway over-bridge in the area for which CESU had provided power from a temporary feeder by pulling the transmission line at a height of eight feet above the ground in gross violation of the Government of India guidelines.

Former PCCF, Bijay Ketan Patnaik said an 11 KV high-tension transmission line must be pulled at a height of 17-18 feet above the ground.