Seven elephants killed by speeding train

[Mrudul Godbole]

Sharing a very sad incident...

Seven elephants killed by speeding train
PTI, Sep 23, 2010, 11.21am IST

JALPAIGURI (WB): Seven elephants were killed and one injured when a speeding goods train hit the animals while they were crossing the railway tracks near Binnaguri in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal, forest department sources said.

Five elephants were killed on the spot late last night while two others succumbed to their injuries this morning, divisional forest officer (Wildlife) Sunita Ghatak said.

A herd of elephants was crossing the railway tracks while going from Moraghat forest to Diana forest last night, when two baby elephants got trapped on the tracks, she said.

When other elephants came to the rescue of the baby elephants, a goods train which was passing through at that time hit them, killing five elephants on the spot and injuring three, the DFO said.

While two of the injured animals succumbed to their injuries this morning, another elephant is injured, she said.

Movement of trains on the track which connects New Jalpaiguri with Assam was suspended till this morning as another herd of elephants was guarding the dead and injured elephants, the DFO said.

Three months ago, another elephant was run over and killed by a train near the same spot.

Speeding trains often hit elephants in the area as the railway line crosses the elephant corridor, forest officials said.

Railway officials have been requested a number of times to restrict the speed limit of trains plying in the area to 40-km/hr for the safety of the elephants, they said.


Link -http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Seven-elephants-killed-by-speeding-train-/articleshow/6611694.cms

[Roopak Gangadharan]

This is getting as common as people being run over by local trains in mumbai.Controlling traffic which cuts across Elephant Corridors and migratory paths does not seems to be a non issue, be it Highways or Railway lines or as recently in kerela the FD had to stop construction work on a Building which was bang in the middle of a corridor and Guess who was trying to put up this building up..KSEB...the state electricity board.beat that.

Roopak

[Lakshminarayanan Nataraja]

This tragic news will linger in news dailies for a day a two and then the whole issue will comfortably be forgotton till another similar incident happens.

Valmik Thapar time and again screams that the entire forest department and the ministry should be revamped. They should be bestowed with power to protect any area demarcated as forests from anybody - be it Railways, Roadways, EB etc. This major revamping is most unlikely in this highly corrupt country which definitely is heading for a major catastrophe due to sheer apathy and rudeness towards natural wealth.

Death of 7 elephants in a day is gruesome and should arouse the government. Railways cannot remain arrogant.

Am sure that all the officials who deny speed limit proposals would have had celebrated Ganesh chathurthi a fortnight ago.The deep understanding which our ancestors had about nature and its incarnations is miserably missing in the present generation which is in rat race towards wealth accumulation.

[Mrudul Godbole]

Some update on the news. Reaction from Ramesh and Mamata..


New Delhi: Upset over the death of seven jumbos on train tracks in West Bengal, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh today said he would soon meet the Railway Board to press for concrete steps to ensure safety of elephants.

"The tragedy is all the more poignant in the wake of the Environment Ministry's decision to declare the elephant as our national heritage animal, to take steps to establish a national Conservation Authority and to implement the recommendations of the Elephant Task Force to protect designated elephant corridors," he said.

The death of seven jumbos in Jalpaiguri district in the state is the worst such incident on a single rail track in the country. Incidentally, Jalpaiguri zone is designated as a jumbo corridor and calls for the railways to take special steps such as slowing down of trains to provide safe crossing to the elephants.

The seven were killed by the speeding goods train near Banerhat Station.

"This is not the first time that such a mishap has taken place, although the scale with which it has taken place now is unprecedented particularly in the North-East frontier," the Union Minister said while expressing unhappiness at the railways poor track record in taking steps to ensure safe passage to the jumbos crossing the rail lines.

Expressing shock over the tragedy, Ramesh, who is in New York for the Major Economic Forum (MEF), said in a statement issued here that in the past he had written several times to Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee as well to Railway Board officials and discussed measures to be taken in order to avoid such tragedies.

But the efforts seem to have fallen on deaf ears given that as many as 150 have died since 1987 on rain tracks as pointed by a report of the elephant task force which was set up by the Environment Ministry to suggest ways to protect the endangered pachyderms in the country.

The task force, which had submitted its report to the Environment Minister recently while seeking national animal heritage status to the elephants, has also recommended measures to protect elephant corridors used by them to move from one forest track to another.

Conservationists have termed the mishap as a murder, calling for strict action against railways. They said the incident reflected insensitivity on part of the government as a few precautionary measures by the railways in protected zones can save precious wildlife such as tigers and other animals besides jumbos.

Ramesh plans to hold a meeting with the Railway Board for some concrete action to prevent repeat of the Jalpaiguri mishap on September 26 when he return from New York.

Also, after Jairam Ramesh lashed out at the Railways, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee too reacted strongly.

Expressing her anger, Mamata Banerjee said "I am deeply anguished. The incident took place in an area other than the identified elephant corridors. I have asked Railway Board to work out a joint strategy with the Ministry of Environment & Forests to prevent such incidents."


Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/elephants-killed-by-train-ramesh-upset-with-railways-54415?cp