Another elephant run over by train
- added July 23, 2008
- 2 responses
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- goldenways
- added this
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JALPAIGURI: Within a week of three elephants being poisoned to death inside Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary, an elephant calf was run over by a train in the same forest on Tuesday morning.
The incident took place in the Gulma range area of the sanctuary. The Guwahati-Jhaja Express ran over the seven-year-old calf around 3 am.
P T Bhutia, conservator of Forest (northern circle), Wildlife, will probe the death. The forest department will take action only after receiving his report.
Principal chief conservator of forest S S Bisht, who was in Delhi to attend a meeting, said he would inform the Union environment ministry about the matter.
"We had earlier asked the Centre to intervene. The ministry has already sent a note to the Railway Board. I will again raise the issue before them," Bisht said from Delhi.
The stretch where the calf was run over on Tuesday has seen many jumbo deaths over the years. On an average, as many as four elephants die in this area every year.
The tracks pass through the Mahananda, Chapramari and Jaldapara sanctuaries and the Buxa Tiger Reserve. It cuts across the elephant corridor that stretches from north Bengal and Sankosh in Assam to Mechi in Nepal.
Till 2001, the tracks were metre gauge. The railways then converted it to broad gauge despite vehement protests from environmental organizations.
A PIL was filed in Calcutta High Court, following which a special inspection team - in accordance with a court order - instructed the railways to maintain a slow speed through this area. But the instruction does not seem to have been followed.
With the latest pachyderm death, the number of elephant casualties over the past year has climbed to seven.
There is a parallel railway track bypassing the forest, but several appeals to direct goods trains through that track have fallen on deaf ears.
The incident took place in the Gulma range area of the sanctuary. The Guwahati-Jhaja Express ran over the seven-year-old calf around 3 am.
P T Bhutia, conservator of Forest (northern circle), Wildlife, will probe the death. The forest department will take action only after receiving his report.
Principal chief conservator of forest S S Bisht, who was in Delhi to attend a meeting, said he would inform the Union environment ministry about the matter.
"We had earlier asked the Centre to intervene. The ministry has already sent a note to the Railway Board. I will again raise the issue before them," Bisht said from Delhi.
The stretch where the calf was run over on Tuesday has seen many jumbo deaths over the years. On an average, as many as four elephants die in this area every year.
The tracks pass through the Mahananda, Chapramari and Jaldapara sanctuaries and the Buxa Tiger Reserve. It cuts across the elephant corridor that stretches from north Bengal and Sankosh in Assam to Mechi in Nepal.
Till 2001, the tracks were metre gauge. The railways then converted it to broad gauge despite vehement protests from environmental organizations.
A PIL was filed in Calcutta High Court, following which a special inspection team - in accordance with a court order - instructed the railways to maintain a slow speed through this area. But the instruction does not seem to have been followed.
With the latest pachyderm death, the number of elephant casualties over the past year has climbed to seven.
There is a parallel railway track bypassing the forest, but several appeals to direct goods trains through that track have fallen on deaf ears.
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- goldenways
- 2 months ago
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