ROURKELA: Amid blame game over the accidental deaths of four elephants near Bagdihi station in Jharsuguda district, the Control Room of South Eastern Railway (SER) at Bondamunda of Rourkela has claimed that no specific information was received about movement of the jumbos on tracks. Hours after four pachyderms were killed by the speeding 12810 Howrah-Mumbai Mail, Jharsugdua Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Sushant Kumar on Monday evening wrote a letter to Jharsuguda Station Manager holding SER responsible for the mishap. The DFO said in a memo of November 2017, two specific spots of elephant movement were cited. He also sought names of the train driver, assistant driver and others for taking action against them.
However, SER authorities at Rourkela were not amused with the Jharsuguda DFO’s bid to shift the blame. They stated that in recent days, no specific information about movement of elephants was given to the Control Room or any SER station. The authorities cited a copy of the letter of Bagdihi Range Officer to claim that after no meeting was held and advisory issued after the one in November, 2017.
About the ‘Caution Order’ of Monday, SER authorities said such orders are issued daily to drivers and guards of all passengers and goods trains to follow standard safety protocol including blowing of loud horn and sharp look out practice at 41 spots including the Bagdihi-Jharsuguda and Bagdihi-Dhutura patches. SER sources informed that speed regulation is not possible as 130-150 trains ply on this busy Howrah-Mumbai route on a daily basis. Requesting anonymity, a senior Forest official said both sides were at fault. While the Forest authorities failed to locate the elephants and inform the Control Room, the train driver also did not regulate the speed.
SER’s spokesperson for Chakradharpur Division and Senior Divisional Commercial Officer Bhaskar said a four-member committee comprising Assistant Security Commissioner of Chakradharpur, Area Manager of Bondamunda, Jharsuguda Assistant Engineer and Assistant Electrical Engineer (Operation) has been formed and appropriate action would be taken after receiving the report. Sources said Forest officials to the level of Range Officer and a few low ranked SER officials may get suspended for the incident.
Meanwhile, a coordination meeting was held between officials of Rourkela Forest Division and SER to ensure strict adherence to precautionary measures to avoid elephant casualties on tracks. Among others, Rourkela DFO SK Swain and SER Area Manager Narendra Kumar attended the meet.