Wild elephants strayed out of forests 119 times at Marudhamalai foothills in 2025: Forest Department informs Madras High Court

The Forest Department has informed the Madras High Court that wild elephants strayed out of forests at the Marudhamalai foothills 119 times in 2025. The Department, in a letter dated January 29, made the submission before a special Division Bench hearing forest related cases, in response to a plea filed by an activist opposing the proposed plan by the Marudhamalai Subramaniaswamy Temple administration to instal a 184-feet tall statue of Lord Murugan at the foothills.

The Bench of Justices N. Sathish Kumar and D. Bharatha Chakravarthy had suggested the temple administration in a hearing in November last year to reconsider the location of the statue, which was 137-metre off reserve forest boundary, as it is considered to be an eco-sensitive zone as per the Kasturirangan Committee report. The Bench suggested whether some other suitable site can be identified.

During the hearing on January 30, the Bench took note of the submission by the senior counsel representing the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department (HR&CE) about another site located 431 metres from the forest boundary.

Stressing the rich wildlife of the forest area where the temple is located, the Bench said that it was for the authorities to consider the alternative site at 431 metres off forest boundary or they could even consider any other suitable site beyond 500 meters of the forest boundary, which according to the judges would not create any human-animal conflict nor be a burden on the pristine environment.

Amici curiae report

As directed by the court on December 19, 2025, its four-member amici curiae inspected the proposed site of Lord Murugan statue on December 23. Its report stated that anthropogenic pressure was visible in and around the existing temple, right from the foothills throughout the ghat section, where solid waste and plastic waste are dumped. The number of visitors to the temple was around 2,500 during weekdays, which increases to 4,000 during weekends. Once the statue is installed, this is expected to increase to 5,000 during weekdays and 10,000 during weekends, said the report.

The amici curiae was informed by officials of various departments that elephants frequently visit these areas and that the public are not allowed between dusk and dawn. One elephant died after feeding on plastic waste recently. A day after the amici curiae’s inspection, a black panther cub was rescued by the Forest Department exactly near the area where the statue is proposed to be installed, the report said.

According to the report, animals are reportedly moving up to the Bharathiar University campus, around 700 meters off the proposed installation site.

“It is submitted that the idea behind the installation of the proposed 184 ft. Lord Murugan statue is more in the nature of a tourist attraction, which, if established, even as per the data provided by the Government departments, would add further impact on the already existing conflict, not only in terms of man-animal conflict, but also on the entire environment, including forests” said the report.

As per the report, the plan was to install the statue in 23 cents of land out of the impact area of 4.96 acres. The area proposed for establishing a car parking facility with 600 slots and a bus terminal with 30 slots is 600 meters from the proposed statue, a poramboke land measuring 7.98 acres near Bharathiar University.