The elephant was unharmed in the exercise, the mahout said.
Truck drivers stuck on a national highway on the Assam - Tripura border that has turned to slush are turning to desperate measures to get moving, including enlisting an elephant to try and push their trucks ahead, but without much success.
More than a thousand trucks and tankers stood stranded near the border yesterday, forming an endless queue on the crumbling, muddy highway. Some of the trucks have been stuck there for over 10 days now.
Incessant rains in Assam over the last two weeks have washed out much of the National Highway 6 that connects Assam and Tripura. The highway is the lone road connector between the Tripura and the rest of the country.
With no sign of help from the government, a few drivers yesterday got hold of a mahout and tried to get an elephant to push the a few of the trucks forward - one by one - in an effort to get them off the slush. But it was a desperate measure that did not work. The elephant was unharmed in the exercise, the mahout said.
Officials in the state government say since the road is a national highway, fixing the situation falls under the responsibility of the National Highway Authority of India or NHAI. The Central authority however has not responded to a request for comment and locals allege there has not been any effort by them to fix the condition.
In Tripura, oil tanker drivers have gone on a strike demanding an immediate improvement in the condition, saying they cannot risk their lives by driving on the road.
Locals say the road has always been in a very bad condition, but now after being battered by this year's monsoon, much of the road has turned to a stretch of unnavigable slush.