Vantara to back Maha govt petition to bring back elephant Madhuri: CM

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Vantara, the Jamnagar-based animal rehabilitation centre, will support the Maharashtra government's petition in the Supreme Court seeking the return of elephant Madhuri to a monastery in Kolhapur, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Wednesday. A rescue centre will be set up for her near the monastery in Nandani in Kolhapur district, he said. "I had an extensive discussion with the Vantara team today in Mumbai. Good news is that they assured me that they are happy to join the Maharashtra Government’s petition before the Hon’ble Supreme Court for a smooth passage of the elephant ‘Madhuri’ back to the Math (monastery)," Fadnavis said in a post on X. Madhuri, a 36-year-old pachyderm which was with the Shri Jinsen Bhattarak Pattacharya Mahaswami Jain ‘math' at Nandani for over three decades, was shifted to Vantara's Jamnagar rehabilitation facility last week following a court ruling, triggering protests.

Thousands of people participated in a silent march in Kolhapur on Sunday, demanding that Madhuri (also called Mahadevi) be brought back. Vantara said it did not request the relocation of the elephant to its centre but served only as a “court-appointed recipient facility". CM Fadnavis, in his X post, also informed that the Vantara team was ready to build a rehabilitation centre for the elephant near Nandani. Later, talking to reporters at Vaijapur in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar after attending a function organized by religious leader Rangiri Maharaj, he said a rescue centre will be built on the periphery of the Nandani Math for the elephant, with facilities recommended by a Supreme Court-appointed high-powered committee. "We have also spoken to the people of Vantara and sought their support for this. They have agreed to it," the chief minister said. The Bombay High Court on July 16 ordered Madhuri to be rehabilitated at Vantara's facility after an NGO complained to the forest department and the SC-appointed committee about her deteriorating health and psychological suffering. The Math challenged it, but the Supreme Court on July 25 upheld the HC order.