Proposal for jumbos dropped

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 1: Environmentalists are seeing red over the state government’s latest move withdrawing two proposals for elephant reserves which where pending for notification, which they say is a massive conspiracy by the mining and industries lobbies. The Centre had already approved the proposals for South Orissa elephant reserve and the Baitarani elephant reserve. After keeping the file pending without any reason, the state has asked the Centre to drop these proposals. Proposals for increasing the area of existing elephant reserves have also been dropped. The South Orissa elephant reserve was proposed over an area of 4,216sqkm in Rayagada, Kandhmal and Kalahandi and the 10,516sqkm Baitarani elephant reserve would spread over Keonjhar, Sundargarh. Many of the mines and industries are coming up on elephant corridors. Sanctuary Asia editor Bittu Sahgal said the chief minister, who also holds the forest portfolio, is compromising the future of elephants. “Naveen Patnaik is not mining ore, he is mining the future of the state. If elephants have no place to live, tomorrow the humans would have no place to live either,” Sahgal said. Full Story