Guwahati: Assam government has decided to send a team comprising forest department officials and elephant experts to Tamil Nadu to bring back at least eight elephants including Jayamala and Laksmi which are being raised in captivity and confined at different temples in Tamil Nadu.
Sources said that the decision has been taken in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. It was resolved in the meeting that the state government will bear all the expenditure to bring the pachyderms back home. The 'Gharwapsi' of elephants will begin soon after the discussion with the government of Tamil Nadu.
Top brass of the forest department and the government will have discussions with the Additional Chief Secretary of the forest department, govt of Tamil Nadu, and the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF). The initiative follows reports of a 12-year-long confinement of Jayamala, an elephant exported to Tamil Nadu from Assam by temple authorities.
The negotiations are expected to pave way for the homecoming of not just Jayamala but all 8 magnificent animals which were exported to Tamil Nadu. An NGO has alleged that these animals were illegally confined and being subjected to tortures by their mahouts in different temples in Tamil Nadu.
