The Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) has rapped the West Bengal Forest Department for its failure to review and notify elephant corridors to combat the problem of frequent death of wild elephants in train accidents.
According to a CAG report, at least 50 elephants have been mowed by speeding trains between May 2006 and November 2013 along the 168 km railway track between New Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar under Alipurdwar Division (North Frontier Railway) in North Bengal. The report blamed the Forest Department saying that at least 14 elephant corridors that were identified in North Bengal have not been notified till November 2013. As a result, the death toll of elephants has been increasing in the said rail track.
It pointed to the observations of the annual report of the State wildlife wing which indicated that rapid expansion of habitations, agriculture and tea gardens not only encroached on forests grassland, but also cut off the corridors needed for migration of elephants. The report further blamed the Forest Department for disregarding the suggestions of Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) on review and notification of corridors.
The report notes that the steps taken by the Forest Department to control the situation was only partial. Its deployment of forest staff and casual labour to watch the movement of elephants along railway tracks and accordingly inform the railway control room to alert railway drivers was followed only in the West Division of Buxa Forest.
In November 2013, the Forest Department and railway authorities had decided to introduce the existing arrangement system in other three divisions through which the railway line passed, but they were not implemented, the report said. The existing arrangements/ steps taken by the Forest Department to combat the problem were thus not effective, mentioned the report.
The concerned 168 kms of the rail route directly passes through a number of prominent elephant corridors as Bhuttaban Forest-Chapramaari Wildlife Sanctuary — Gorumara National Park, Dumchi forest- Chunabhatti- Khairbaari- Jaldapaara- Buxa Reserve amongst others.
Earlier, the Standing Committee of National Board for Wildlife had also raised serious concerns over fragmentation of elephant corridors. The members had repeatedly raised the issue of giving legal status to the elephant habitats/ reserves/ corridors and regulatory role should be given to the National Board for Wildlife. They pointed to the growing incidents of jumbo deaths in train hit cases particularly in North Bengal.