BHUBANESWAR: The East Coast Railway (ECoR) has denied that the death of a tusker that was run over by a train between Boinda and Jharpada stations in Angul district recently was due to a lack of coordination with the Forest department.
On April 6 night, the tusker was killed after being hit by the weekly Sambalpur-Shalimar Mahima Gosain Express near Dehurisahi, about one km from Jharpada station. A statement issued by the ECoR said, the railways took necessary steps and the instructions were clearly communicated to the loco pilot, who followed the orders provided to him through a caution order.
The wildlife control cell manned by Forest department at Sambalpur railway division gave a memo to the divisional control office on restriction of train movement mentioning that running of trains should be restricted with speed limit of 50 kmph between the stretch from both the sides between Boinda and Jharpada stations from 6.30 pm on April 6 to 6.30 am on April 7.
However, the unfortunate incident occurred beyond the mentioned area, specifically at 131/23-25 km, which is beyond the elephant passing zone, as per the memo of the Forest department. The incident occurred at 9.21 pm while the Mahima Gosain Express was approaching Jharpada railway station from Boinda with all precautions taken by maintaining the speed limit, blowing horns, and following all caution orders, the statement said.
After the incident, the loco-pilot checked the spot and reported the incident to the station authorities. Later, the railway track was checked, and permission was given for train movement at 10.33 pm. A team of forest officials visited the spot to remove the elephant’s body for which movement of trains was blocked between 2.45 am to 3.10 am.
There are wildlife control cells functioning at divisional headquarters at Sambalpur and Khurda Road railway divisions that provide information regarding movement of elephants to the divisional controls so that the movement of wildlife will be safe on railway tracks, it added.