Considering the accidental deaths of wild animals especially elephants on the railway track in the Tanda forest region, the Forest Department and Railway officials held a meeting and decided to take measure to prevent such fatalities. It was decided that such accident prone tracks will be identified, sign boards will be put up and the speed of trains will be kept low on such stretches.
Chairing the meeting, the principal chief conservator of forests Jai Raj expressed concern at the death of wild animals on railway tracks. The forest and railway departments will have to forget differences and work in coordination. He said that the speed of trains should be decreased in places with alarming rate of accidents. Taking cognisance of garbage being dumped on railway tracks, he asked the additional divisional rail manager VK Gupta to direct the catering staff on trains to desist from littering the tracks. Such garbage attracts wild animals looking for food and they are prone to be hit by a passing train. During the meeting, officials of the two departments decided that inspections will be carried out between June 5 and 12 on the tracks from lalkuan to Rudrapur, Ramnagar to Kashipur, lalkuan to Bazpur, lalkuan to Kichha and from Tanakpur to Khatima to identify the sensitive and very sensitive spots. It was also decided that the the speed of trains will be kept at 30 to 35 kmph in accident prone stretches. It will be recalled that recently an elephant was killed after being hit fatally by a train. Earlier, at least two elephants had died last year in the same area after being hit by a train.