Roopkali begs as devotees pray elephant-headed god

While the whole of Maharashtra celebrates Ganesh festival with pomp praising and praying the elephant-headed god, Roopkali, a 30-year-old pachyderm, is forced to beg on the streets of Vasai-Virar.

Taking advantage of the festival and riding on the emotion of the devotees, her mahout makes Roopkali walk for more than 80 kilometers a day taking her from one Ganesh mandal to another for begging. In the process, Ramesh, the mahout, boasts of making more than Rs1,500 a day.

Harsha Chauhan, who has brought the matter to the notice of animal activists in the region, said: “The mammal is forced to walk the whole day. It’s only around midnight that she is taken back to her shelter, an under-construction building in Vasai (West). There, she is chained with no space for her to sleep. She stands the whole night, and then, the next morning, it’s time for her to go begging again. Poor Roopkali often faints on the road.”

This reporter spotted Roopkali begging near a Ganesh mandal opposite Sai Dham tower at Nalasopara (East). When inquired about her owner, the mahout said, “Pandeyji is the owner. He stays near Dahisar check naka. He has all the documents for rearing an elephant.”

“We earn a lot during Ganesh Chaturthi as people offer her money along with bananas and coconuts,” added Ramesh.    

“We have informed the forest department officials. We have been tracking the elephant for some time now. The owner,  Sabhashankar Pandey, has managed to move the elephant the day we tracked her at Naigaon. The forest department will cancel Pandey’s ownership certificate and send Roopkali to Mathura Wildlife Sanctuary,” said Shakuntala Majumdar, president, Thane SPCA.