NINE
ELEPHANT KILLED
A 35 year-old tusker was killed when the Bangalore- Ernakulam express train hit it on “A’ track in the kanjikode- walayar forest area early morning of Friday, 17th July 2009. This is the second such incident in the past 24 hours. A she elephant was killed in the early hours of Thursday 16th July 2009.
The Forest Minister wrote to Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday 18th July 2009 seeking their intervention to end the recurring deaths of elephants in accidents along the railway track between Coimbator and Palakkad. A month ago that a cow elephant and its baby were killed on the same stretch. The forest minister said that nine elephants had been killed by train run-over in that track over the past three years. The kerala forests wild life department had on various occasions brought this matter to the notice of the Railway authorities and sought preventive measures to pre-empt these untoward incidents. How ever they turned a deaf ear to the requests. Protection of wild life being a fundamental duty of every citizen of this country
The following instruction should be issued immediately to the railway authorities to save the lives of elephants and other wild animals. The speed of all trains plying in the Coimbatore- Palakkad route should be reduced to less than 50 km ph between kanjikodu and walayar stations. Since most of the accidents occur during the night hours and in’ B’ line, the movement of trains from 11 p.m to 5 am may be restricted to ‘A’ line alone.
The track between Kanjikode and Walayar has lots of embankments as the rails are laid in tunnels dug along rocks most of the accidents occurred when the elephants and deer enter these tunnels and are not in a position to escape because of the steep embankments. These embankments have to be removed. Engine drivers should sound horn while passing through the entire route between kanjikode and walayar to alert the animals
PROF JOHN KURAKAR
ELEPHANT KILLED
A 35 year-old tusker was killed when the Bangalore- Ernakulam express train hit it on “A’ track in the kanjikode- walayar forest area early morning of Friday, 17th July 2009. This is the second such incident in the past 24 hours. A she elephant was killed in the early hours of Thursday 16th July 2009.
The Forest Minister wrote to Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday 18th July 2009 seeking their intervention to end the recurring deaths of elephants in accidents along the railway track between Coimbator and Palakkad. A month ago that a cow elephant and its baby were killed on the same stretch. The forest minister said that nine elephants had been killed by train run-over in that track over the past three years. The kerala forests wild life department had on various occasions brought this matter to the notice of the Railway authorities and sought preventive measures to pre-empt these untoward incidents. How ever they turned a deaf ear to the requests. Protection of wild life being a fundamental duty of every citizen of this country
The following instruction should be issued immediately to the railway authorities to save the lives of elephants and other wild animals. The speed of all trains plying in the Coimbatore- Palakkad route should be reduced to less than 50 km ph between kanjikodu and walayar stations. Since most of the accidents occur during the night hours and in’ B’ line, the movement of trains from 11 p.m to 5 am may be restricted to ‘A’ line alone.
The track between Kanjikode and Walayar has lots of embankments as the rails are laid in tunnels dug along rocks most of the accidents occurred when the elephants and deer enter these tunnels and are not in a position to escape because of the steep embankments. These embankments have to be removed. Engine drivers should sound horn while passing through the entire route between kanjikode and walayar to alert the animals
PROF JOHN KURAKAR
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