Joy in camp after ‘reunion of pals’

Totally, 33 elephants from different temples and mutts commenced their retreat at the 48-day rejuvenation camp with a cool shower on Thursday.

Of them, 26 were from temples, five from mutts and two from shrines in Puducherry.

The youngest among them was nine-year-old Masini from Samayapuram Mariamman temple and the oldest was 51-year-old Kasthuri from Palani Dhandayuthapani temple.

There was bonhomie among the jumbos at the site. Three pachyderms, Andal from Srirangam temple, Lakshmi from Thayumanaswamy temple in Tiruchy and Akila from Jambukeswarar temple in Thiruvanaikoil were found to be bonding well.

Hindu Religious Charitable Endowments (HR & CE) Minister Sevur S Ramachandran and Forest Minister Dindigul C Srinivasan inaugurated the camp.

The entire exercise will cost nearly Rs 1,50,79,000 and Rs 9,239 will be spent for each elephant on a daily basis, said sources.

The sprawling camp site, spread over nine acres, has been fixed with CCTV’s, solar fenced and watch towers have been erected to keep round the clock vigil of the elephant camp.

District Collector TN Hariharan, HR & CE Commissioner R Jaya, MLA’s OK Chinnaraj, PRG Arun Kumar, Amman Arjunan, District Forest Officer (DFO) N Satheesh participated in the inaugural function.

Meanwhile people living in 23 villages in and around Thekkampatty, hoisted black flags atop their houses in protest against holding the jumbo retreat in their neighbourhood. They claimed that owing to the camp wild elephants were frequenting the area and causing trouble.