Munnar: In a shocking reflection of the financial woes plaguing the Munnar Forest Division, a forest officer pledged his wife’s gold chain to cover the costs of a postmortem for wild tusker Murivalankomban.

The officer secured Rs 80,000 by pledging the gold and used up the funds to cover the expenses for the postmortem of the animal, which died following a confrontation with another tusker, Chakkakomban, in Chinnakanal.

The Munnar Forest Division has been grappling with a dire financial situation for months, unable to pay even for fuel or basic vehicle maintenance. The crisis has forced the authorities to cut working days for over 200 temporary employees, including members of the Rapid Response Team (RRT), reducing their workdays from the usual 22 to 26 days per month to just 15 to 20.

Adding to the department’s woes, fuel suppliers, who have not been paid for the past six months, are now threatening to halt fuel distribution to the division’s vehicles, crippling the forest department's operations even further.