Madras HC to inspect Palakkad-Coimbatore elephant corridor on April 9

Chennai, March 26 (IANS) A division bench of the Madras High Court comprising Justices V. Bharathidasan and N. Sathishkumar said that they would themselves be conducting inspection of the elephant corridor between Palakkad and Coimbatore railway stretch on April 9 and 10. The court was responding to a petition filed by the Tamil Nadu forest department.

Several elephants were killed by moving trains in the Palakkad- Coimbatore Elephant corridor in Madhukarai area and has become a major bone of contention between the forest department and the Southern Railways, Palakkad division.

Three elephants including a cub elephant were recently killed by Mangalore-Chennai express train at the stretch leading to calls by the forest department to reduce the speed of the trains passing through this stretch. However, Railways had contended that it will not be able to reduce the speed in that stretch as trains running below a specific speed would invite accidents in certain stretches.

The Madras High Court while hearing the argument of the Railways and the Tamil Nadu forest department said that the judges will personally be visiting the Palakkad-Coimbatore stretch and conduct a direct assessment of the situation on April 9 and 10.

The bench also came out strongly against the shopkeepers of Nilgiris district for rampant use of plastic even after the court ban and directed the District Collector to take stringent action against the erring shopkeepers. When the District Collector, through video conferencing on Friday, informed the court that the administration had levied fines against the use of plastics, the court said that shopkeepers cannot be brought in line through imposing fines. The division bench of the Madras High Court directed the Collector to seal the shops which were found selling plastic items.

The court also came down heavily against the Tasmac liquor outlets and directed the corporation to ensure that liquor was not sold in plastic bottles in the Nilgiris district which was environmentally fragile.

The Madras High Court division bench also said that the presence of plastic in large numbers has led to the total environmental destruction of the tourist hub of Tamil Nadu and called upon all the players to be environment friendly and to prevent the use of plastic materials.