DEHRADUN: Late-night drama unfolded at the Jolly Grant Airport in Dehradun when an elephant broke down a part of the boundary wall of the airport and entered the runway, pacing up and down for close to two hours, until it was chased away by the forest department teams that fired in the air and burst crackers.
While escaping, the jumbo tore down another portion of the 15-feet-tall airport wall.
Airport staff on duty on Tuesday night were shocked to see an elephant running on the tarmac. Panicked calls were made to the forest department which rushed teams to the airport to chase away the animal. For two hours, the teams tried various measures to drive the pachyderm into the forest.
“It was a tusker. Our teams burst crackers, fired in the air, but it kept running on the runway. Every time someone got close, the animal would charge. At 4am, it finally made its way to the woods. On its way out, the elephant broke down another portion of the boundary wall,” said N L Dobhal, range officer (Thano), Dehradun forest division.
Prabhakar Mishra, general manager of Jolly Grant Airport, told TOI they have put in a request to the forest department to deploy a permanent field team in the area to keep animals from straying into the airport premises.
In December last year, a leopard had entered the airport and was rescued by a forest department team after 10 hours. The airport, which closes down at 8pm, is built in close proximity to Shivalik Elephant Reserve — home to over 1,800 elephants, according to a 2017 population census.
Environmentalists, meanwhile, said such incidents were bound to happen since the state government was “bent on disturbing animal habitats”.
The government has plans to expand the airport by taking away almost 87 hectares of the elephant reserve’s land — a move that has been vehemently opposed by environmentalists. The case is pending in the high court.
“North-east side of Dehradun valley has a rich population of jumbos. But now forests have solar fencing, trenches, road widening project work and encroachments. This has disturbed their habitat. Their old routes, such as the ones they took to drink water, have been obstructed and they are being pushed to the brink,” environmental activist Reenu Paul said.
Just 72 hours ago, an elephant had trampled a man to death in the same forest zone, prompting many to say that man-wildlife conflict was on the rise due to shrinking habitats of the animals.
Experts at the non-profit Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) also said that expansion of the airport would impede movement of elephants. “The airport is flanked by forests on both sides. The area where expansion is proposed connects two patches of forests which see high animal movement. This is bound to increase conflict. Any development needs to be mindful of wildlife. It plays a key role in Uttarakhand's economy too,” said Anil Kumar Singh, team leader, Terai Arc Landscape, WWF.
The forest department has now planned to install solar fencing along the airport boundary wall. “We have already installed 22-km-long solar fencing in Thano range — from Ramnagar Tanda to Bhogpur Pani — which has reduced man-wildlife conflict,” said the range officer.
