Odisha | Chandragiri reserve forest to get elephant care centre

Berhampur (Odisha), Dec 20 (PTI) An elephant care centre will soon come up in the Chandragiri reserve forest area in Odisha’s Ganjam district, local MLA Pradyumna Nayak said on Friday.

Around 21 hectares of land have been earmarked by the forest department for the facility near Beruabadi.

The proposal of the Ghumusar north forest division is under active consideration and it is likely to be approved soon, Nayak, the MLA from Bhanjanagar, said.

The legislator said he has already discussed the matter with Forest, Environment and Climate Change Minister Ganesh Ram Singhkhuntia.

The proposed facility will be the third elephant rescue-cum-care centre in the state after Chandaka in Khurda district and Kapilash in Dhenkanal, forest department sources said.

It will care for elephants that are aged, injured or ailing.

Besides the Ghumusar north division, the centre will also look after jumbos in Ghumusar South, Berhampur, Paralakhemundi, Nayagarh, Boudh, Baliguda and Phulbani forest divisions, the sources said.

It will have a capacity to house at least eight elephants, said Himansu Sekhar Mohanty, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Ghumusar North.

He said the centre will include a quarantine and treatment unit, transition zone, water facilities, solar lighting and fodder cultivation area.

“Besides treating injured and ailing elephants, the centre will provide an environment for quick recovery, enabling them to get back to their active herds again,” the DFO said.

The centre will entail an expenditure of around Rs 3 crore, the sources said.

There are over 70 elephants in the Ghumusar north division, they added. PTI