The Madras High Court on Friday closed a Public interest litigation (PIL) which sought a direction to the government to eradicate animal- borne health hazards among people in the offshoots of Western Ghats.
Expressing satisfaction over the action taken by Tamil Nadu government in eradicating animal- borne health hazards among people in the offshoots of Western Ghats area in the state, the Madras High Court on Friday closed a Public interest litigation (PIL) which sought a direction to the government to this effect.
Advocate A R Gokulakrishnan had in his Public Interest Litigation petition sought a direction to the government to take all remedial measures in preventing animal-borne health hazards to people residing in the offshoots of Western Ghats area.
When the PIL came up before the division bench, comprising Justices T S Sivagnanam and R Mala, the Health Secretary and the Forest Secretary submitted that steps were taken first to eradicate animal-borne health hazards in Kodaikkanal area and then it was continued in the Western Ghats.
The two appeared in person before the court in response to its November 28, 2015 direction on a PIL to appear before it on Friday for not filing reports on remedial measures taken to prevent animal-borne health hazards in Western Ghats area.
The petitioner, a social activist and a permanent resident in the area, had submitted that Indian Gaurs which used to cause extensive damage to standing crops like coffee, tea, pepper, a special variety of hill banana, cardamom, beetroot and other crops, had started invading human settlements.
These animals not only threatened the existence of plantation growers but also brought in and were spreading endemic diseases like rhipicephalus haemaphysaloides, babesiosis, anaplasmosisn and rocky mount spotted fever and causing severe itching.
He had submitted that researchers had released papers claiming that ticks and lice which breed on the skin of Gaurs are the root cause of the diseases and referred to in reports in national English dailies on information given by him.
The activist said more than 50 per cent of women and children suffer from sores caused by lice breeding on Gaurs.
The May 4 2006 report of experts from Institute of Microbiology, Madurai Medical College and dermatologists and entomologists from the Joint Director, Institute of Vector Control and Zoonoses, Hosur who visited the area confirmed the prevalence of endemic disease with more than 84 people being affected by it, he said.
After the secretaries explained the action taken, the bench expressed happiness over it, hoped that the endeavor would be continued and closed the PIL.