Jamshedpur, Aug. 14 : A wild elephant was electrocuted at Bera jungle in Chakulia forest range area under Dhalbhumgarh police station area, on Monday. It was a male elephant which was killed.
According to information soil dumped by a civil construction firm at an under-constructed canal led the electrocution as the elephant came in contact with an overhead high tension wire that passed over the soil dump near canal project in Ghatshila
The electrocuted elephant was one the members of a herd of elephants which has been moving around Bera jungle near Bera village under the Chakulia forest range.
Divisional forest officer (DFO), Jamshedpur, Saba Alam Ahmed rushed to the spot of elephant electrocution soon after getting the information. Ahmed said the incident took place between 3 am to 4 am today, while the herd of 19 elephants were crossing the stretch along the under-constructed canal.
“We are investigating the incident but it is clear that the electrocution of the elephant took place due to dumping of soil along the canal. As the gap between the ground from the overhead HT line was shorted due to dumping of soil, one of the elephants that was passing through the soil dump came in contact with the power line. It is an 11,000 KVA line and the tusker was killed immediately,” said the DFO.
Ahmed, when asked, said that the canal construction is a part of multi-crore Subernarekha Multi-purpose Project (SMP) and they would raise the issue with the department concerned.
“We have ordered an investigation following which we will raise the issue with the SMP authority as it was illegal to leave mounds of soil along the canal construction site which is also an elephant habitat,” said the DFO.