In a novel humanitarian initiative, Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar and 50 of India’s most renowned artists have all wielded paint brushes for the sake of elephants.
These Bollywood bigwigs and artists SH Raza, Anjolie Ela Menon, Bose Krishnamachari, Naynaa Kanodia, Ram Kumar, Jogen Chowdhury, Subodh Gupta, Binoy Varghese, Rekha Rodwattiya, Farhad Hussain, Seema Kohli, Naresh Kapuria, Rini Dhumal, Thukral and Tagra, Chintan Upadhyay, GR Iranna, Paramjeet Singh, Arpita Singh and Jayasri Burman, have painted fibreglass elephant statues, which will be put up for sale later this month to generate revenue for conserving the pachyderm population in India.
Wildlife activist and Woman and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi has tied up with NGO Wildlife SOS to help them raise funds to help run the Elephant Conservation and Care Center (ECCC) in Mathura, the only functional rehabilitation centre in the country for the mammoth mammal.
“We need to conserve elephants otherwise they will slowly become extinct. Their numbers have already started showing a decline and we need to do something to save and rescue them,” said Maneka Gandhi in an interaction with The Pioneer.
“The Government’s own statistics show that there are only 22,000 elephants left in the country. Of these at least 6,000 are in brutal and illegal captivity. 600 elephants are killed every year. They are starved, beaten, drowned or just die of ill-treatment. Many are killed for insurance,” she said.
Maneka said that her Ministry has written several letters to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to help in the rehabilitation of elephants but the MoEF turned a blind eye to all her requests.
“I have written to them both in the capacity of a wildlife activist and also as a Cabinet Minister, but they have not shown any sensitivity towards the cause,” said Maneka.
“The Government does not give a single rupee grant to any institution for saving these elephants. Therefore, it is up to us to rescue and rehabilitate all these animals,” she said.
Maneka said that Project Elephant, an initiative started in 1990 by the Government to prevent the killings of elephants for tusks and their exploitation in circuses and temples, has also hit the wall.
Maneka said that apart from “physically constructing” two rescue centres in Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, the MoEF hasn’t done anything more after that.
“Each elephant costs about Rs50,000 to Rs60,000 per month in terms of medical care, feed and rehabilitation. This is about Rs7 lakh per elephant per year,” she said.
“Similarly, the infrastructure required for housing each elephant also costs Rs15 lakhs to Rs20 lakhs for protected contact enclosures, ponds, enrichment structures and elephant keepers. The cost for creating infrastructure for 50 elephants comes to about Rs10 crores and the recurring maintenance costs for 50 elephants is Rs3.5 crores per year,” said Maneka.
Maneka’s own NGO, People For Animals, is organising this fundraiser for Wildlife SOS to support the Elephant Rescue Centre. Maneka said that the fundraiser will be inaugurated on November 28 and will continue till November 30 at Le Meridian Hotel, New Delhi.