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The chances of restoring the Sigur Elephant Corridor have brightened. The corridor connects the Western Ghats with the Eastern Ghats and a petition challenging a Supreme Court-approved demolition of 35 tourism resorts has now reached Madras High Court.
In response to the petition, the Madras High Court constituted a special forest bench which will hear the petitions against the demolition of 35 tourist resorts that are situated on the ecologically vital corridor in Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiri district.
The hearing for the petition is slated for October 14.
The first bench of the high court believed that since the Supreme Court appointed the Sigur Plateau Elephant Inquiry Committee, both the petitioners against the demolition and the state government must seek clarification from the apex court on whether a lower court can accept the petition challenging the order.
Though Acting Chief Justice D. Krishna Kumar advised the resort owners to approach the Supreme Court, the state government argued that the freshly constituted forest bench could decide on the issue after considering all aspects.
The committee led by Justice K Venkatraman, appointed by the Supreme Court, had ordered the demolition of the resorts in the disrupted corridor.
The appeal came up before the high court as soon as the Tamil Nadu government decided to implement the long-pending order of the committee to demolish the resorts located in the forest village of Masinagudi at the foothills of the famous hill station of Ooty.
The corridor, which once used to facilitate the cross-forest movement of about 6,300 Asian elephants across three southern states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka, has been significantly degraded in recent years due to the actions of local tourism players.
Elephants from Nilambur and Wayanad forests in Kerala, Bandipur and Nagarhole forest reserves in Karnataka and Mudumalai and Sathyamangalam forests in Tamil Nadu use the Sigur plateau because it is the only flat route available for large herds between the steep slopes of Nilgiris and the Moyar gorge.
The entire area is part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, spread across 5,000 square kilometres and the order to demolish the resorts is part of the larger efforts to revive the corridor.
The notice to the resorts mentioned that the buildings were built without proper permissions, violating sections 56 and 57 of the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act, 1971. Following these orders from the Supreme Court, the resorts have been locked and sealed since 2018.
Although there are no signs of the resort owners voluntarily tearing down the structures, the district administration in Nilgiris is preparing for ‘Operation Sigur’, which will be held after the forest bench considers the appeals on October 14.
Sources in the Forest Department told Down To Earth (DTE) that there is hardly any chance for the bench to act against the recommendations of a Supreme Court-appointed expert committee.
The corridor is also used by animals other than elephants, such as tigers. It is also a natural habitat for the largest population of three critically endangered species of vultures in southern India.
In 1972, well-known environmentalist E. R. C. Davidar had, for the first time, proposed a restoration of the corridor for ecological restoration of the region.
The Wildlife Trust of India, with support from Project Elephant under the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, had identified four corridors in the Segur Plateau: (i) Avarahalla – Sigur, (ii) Kalhatti – Sigur, (iii) Moyar – Avarahalla, and (iv) Kalmalai – Singara-Avarahalla. These four corridors were later consolidated into a single entity called the Sigur Elephant Corridor.
The Segur Corridor Inquiry Committee has reported that illegal resorts have built ‘illegal structures’ near reserve forests and streams regularly used by elephants.
These resorts have obstructed the movement of elephants in important parts of the corridor by putting up electric fences. The committee has also cautioned that if the migratory corridors of Asian elephants are not preserved, their habitats will become fragmented, which could ultimately lead to the extinction of the elephant population.
The resort owners argued that some parts of the elephant corridor were not actual elephant habitats. However, the committee pointed out that construction activities by resort owners and installation of electric fencing restricted access which is why the elephants were not seen in those areas.
Forest officials say various scientific methods, including landscape genetics, have confirmed the significance of the areas between Masinagudi, Bokkapuram, and Mavanallah for animal migration. This is particularly important for Asian elephants within the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.
Elephants prefer gentle, undulating slopes to travel between habitats and establishing a settlement or building on such a pathway would disrupt their movement.
Forest Department officials underlined that the Supreme Court's validation of the committee's findings will protect the Segur corridor for future generations.
“It's not just about resorts and homestays, but their impact on the landscape. These establishments attract thousands of tourists, putting immense pressure on the local ecology, waste management systems, and forest management,” pointed out environmentalist S Kalidasan.
Kalidasan hoped that the court orders and the expert committee's directives will dissuade landholders in Segur from building illegal resorts.
The human presence in the forested region surged manifold in the 1960s and 1970s. Workers brought in to construct the Moyar Hydroelectric and Pykara powerhouses at Singara decided to stay and settle in the region.
As the population grew, outsiders began arriving in the 1990s and building resorts. This led to an uncontrolled surge in tourism, which brought about conflicts and environmental degradation due to unregulated footfall.