After an elephant recently got stuck in the swollen Mahanadi river in Odisha and perished after failing to move out, environmentalists have demanded animal-friendly public infrastructure.
“We have observed that the trapped tusker had made at least two attempts to climb out of the river by walking to the end of the barrage spillway and the shore towards a suitable slope,” said Biswajit Mohanty, who heads the Wildlife Society of Orissa, an environmental pressure group that works on elephant conservation.
“Unfortunately, for more than 100 feet, there is a sharp straight and tall concrete wall to protect the river bank from scouring, which prevented the elephant from climbing. Had there been an eight feet concrete or stone ramp, the elephant could have climbed up,” he said.
“Building a ramp does not compromise the safety of the river bank and hence this measure can be considered a mitigation plan,” he noted.
“To prevent the elephants from drowning, we suggest construction of elephant or animal-friendly ramps at the point where the barrage ends on either sides of the Mahanadi” suggested Mr. Mohanty. “Similar ramps can be built at the Naraj barrage and other places where river-crossing by elephants is recorded,” he added.
