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Forest, rail meet to save jumbos
THE TELEGRAPH
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Siliguri, Sept. 25: Forest and railway officials today came up with steps to prevent
elephant deaths on tracks running through the Dooars, reaching a “consensus” on limiting
speeds and keeping train drivers in the loop on movements of the jumbos.
The decisions came at a meeting of officials of the state forest department and the
Northeast Frontier Railways at the forest bungalow in Gorumara National Park, some
70km from here.
Among those present was Project Elephant director A.N. Prasad.
On Wednesday night, a goods train speeding through the forests of the Dooars had cut
through a herd of wild elephants, killing seven in the largest single-incident casualty in
recent memory.
The accident, about 80km from Alipurduar town, had led to a blame game, with railway
officials claiming the forest department hadn’t kept them informed that a herd was near
the tracks and forest officials saying the train was moving too fast at 70kmph.
“We discussed the issue of elephant deaths on tracks and reached a consensus on certain
steps to prevent such incidents in the future,” S.B. Patel, the chief conservator of forests,
wildlife, North Bengal, said after the meeting this afternoon.
Some of the measures are:
- Co-ordination between the forest department and the railways with a forester, most
probably a beat officer, being posted at the control room at Alipurduar railway station
- The beat officer will keep in touch with all forest divisions through which the track runs
from Siliguri to Alipurduar
“In case of any information on elephant sighting, the officer will pass on the information
to our employees who in turn will caution drivers of trains scheduled to ply on this
route,” said S.N. Singh, divisional railway manager, Alipurduar division.
- The forest department will also clear patches of forests up to a distance of 30 metres on
either side of the tracks to improve visibility for train drivers.
- It was also agreed that drivers would maintain an average speed of 45-50kmph in non-
notified areas — or areas that have not been marked as elephant corridors but can have
elephant herds.
- The accident on the night of September 22 took place in a non-notified area. A survey
will be done to identify such areas.
- For information about herds, members of forest protection and eco-development
committees will be engaged along with forest staff, many of whom live on villages near
the tracks.
Prasad said Union forest minister Jairam Ramesh had said in a written statement from
New York yesterday that he would sit with Railway Board officials after he returns
tomorrow. A meeting is likely to be convened on September 28 in Delhi, he added.
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