THRISSUR: In a remarkable operation, the forest and Kerala State Electricity Board KSEB ) officials rescued a wild elephant trapped in the flooded Chalakkudypuzha river at Charpa waterfalls near Athirappilli by reducing the water flow to the river by pushing down the shutters of the Peringalkoothu dam on Monday morning.The tribals, who had gone to fish in the river had noticed the presence of an elephant standing at a slightly elevated point in the river. Water was gushing all around the tusker, which was a makhna.They immediately alerted the forest officials who rushed to the spot, initially with a view to ensure that people won’t flock around."We thought the elephant was in the river to take bath, and usually people crowd in the area, which used to create dangerous situations. But soon we realised that the elephant remained stranded there, as it was not able to move, and was testing the depth of the water with its trunk. It could have been part of a herd and other elephants must have escaped, while this one got stranded because of the sudden rise in the water level," said Mohammed Raphy, forest range officer of the Charpa area.The forest officials immediately contacted the KSEB officials and both planned a risky operation. Apart from the timely intervention of the forest and KSEB officials, luck also seemed to have aided the trapped tusker.The KSEB officials said they would be able to down the shutters of the Peringalkooth dam for an hour or so. But it will take half-an-hour to reduce the flow in the downstream area and the elephant will have to be driven out to a safer area in the next 30 minutes. If the operation fails, the flow will be with double the intensity when the shutters are reopened. The gushing waters would have dragged the elephant to the Athirappilli waterfalls, which in turn would have sealed its fate."The water level in the dam was at 422.5meter which was below the FRL of 424meter. But we had kept the shutters open as there was forecast of heavy rains in the next two days. So we could hold the water for an hour or so practically. But we cannot allow the water level to go above 424m as it would submerge the motors in the power station which totally generates 52mw of power," said P Sureshkumar, assistant executive engineer of the KSEB."We chose to take the risk and requested KSEB officials to close the shutter, and when the water level came down, we drove off the elephant by bursting crackers. Luckily it went beck in half-an-hour. It was a great feeling to see the elephant turning back and looking at us, apparently with an air of gratitude. Subsequently, the KSEB officials reopened the shutters," said Raphy.

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