At least 18 elephants had been killed by trains in recent months across India, which prompted a letter from The Union environment ministry director general of forests S.S. Negi. In the letter he wrote “death of elephants due to train accidents has assumed alarming proportion in recent past”.
Negi countinued “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 also directed that every accident that involves an elephants death will be reported to his agency, along with an official statement of facts and a post-mortem report of the elephant should be submitted to the ministry at the earliest”.
This is not the first time MoEFCC has issued directions or expressed concern over elephants being killed 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 two of which were pregnant.
The environment ministry has also suggested to the states to take various precautionary measures to prevent such accidents such as.
The ministry of railways has also been requested to regulate the speed of trains in vulnerable sections between sunset and sunrise.
The elephant is a protected animal under India’s wildlife laws. India started Project Elephant in 1992 to protect Asian elephants, their habitat and corridors and address man-elephant conflict.
In 2010, the central government declared the elephant an animal of national treasure and to develop better measures for its protection.