Govt takes steps to reduce elephant fatalities from collisions with trains

New Delhi: The Union environment ministry has asked all states to put forest staff on a high alert to avoid elephants and other wild animals being killed by speeding trains. Negi, who is also special secretary, ministry of environment, forest and climate change, cited news reports that at least 18 elephants had been killed in recent months across the country.mobAds They include two elephant casualties in Tamil Nadu three in Kerala, three in west Bengal, one in Uttarakhand and seven in Assam. In August, minister of state for environment, forest and climate change Anil Madhav Dave had sought a detailed report on train accidents in West Bengal in which three elephants were killed. A case on the issue is also going on at the Supreme Court where MoEFCC had submitted an affidavit in 2014, proposing a special thrust to the use of technology, especially 24X7electronic surveillance and wireless sensors, to curb elephant fatalities from collisions with trains.thirdMAds MoEFCC, meanwhile, has also initiated steps to prepare a regional landscape plan for the conservation of elephants in the East Central Elephant Landscape, comprising the states of West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand and other elephant areas, where a lot of such incidents take place. For instance, in an advisory to railway and state governments to prevent collision of trains with wild elephants, the ministry suggesting measures like clearing vegetation on the sides of railway tracks, underpasses/overpasses/girder bridges across vulnerable stretches of railway tracks to allow safe passage of elephants, signage boards at selected points to alert train drivers, sensitization programmes for train drivers/guards/station masters, keeping railway tracks free from food wastes as that attracts elephants and other animals.