NEW DELHI: Concerned over increasing incidents of elephants run over by trains, Centre has now written to all states to put forest staff on high alert and every elephant death should be enquired into with report submitted to the union environment ministry.
In a letter sent to all state chief wildlife wardens, Special Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) SS Negi said: “Deaths of elephants due to train accidents have assumed alarming proportion in recent past.”
“It is requested that frontline staff are put on high alert and suitable preventive actions are taken to minimize deaths/injury to elephants and other wild animals due to train accidents, in consultation with State railway authorities,” he said.
All states have been every elephant casualty should be enquired into and the enquiry report along with post mortem report of elephants should be submitted to the ministry at the earliest.
The environment ministry has also suggested to states various precautionary measures to stop accidents involving elephants. These include regulating speed, clearing vegetation on the sides of railway tracks, underpasses across vulnerable stretches of railway tracks to allow safe passage of elephants and signage boards at selected points to alert train drivers.
The Supreme Court is also hearing a case where the environment ministry had suggested use of technology, especially round the clock electronic surveillance and wireless sensors, to stop high number of elephant fatalities due to collision with trains.