COIMBATORE: Coimbatore forest department has approached the District Munsif Court-cum-Judicial Magistrate Court in Madukkarai seeking permission to check an electronic chip, which is in its custody, to ascertain the speed limit of the loco which hit and killed three elephants in Navakkarai on November 26.
The chip was handed over to forest department by Palakkad railway division and was submitted before the court.
District Forest Officer TK Ashok Kumar told TNIE, “Madukkarai forest ranger P Sandhiya, who is the investigating officer, has sought permission to allow technical engineer from Salem railway division to check the chip in her presence. We have also requested permission to video record the inspection. We want to find out if the loco pilot operated the Mangalore-Chennai train (12602) above the permissible speed limit of 45 kmph.”
Though Palakkad railway officials claimed that the train was operated at 42 kmph speed when the incident happened, sources in the Coimbatore forest department doubted it. “We suspect the loco pilot violated the speed limit since the female elephant was dragged for nearly 145 metres after being hit. This can happen only when a train is speeding. The loco pilot and his assistant confessed that they saw the elephants 50 to 80 metres before they were hit. This clearly shows that they were accelerating. We can’t just proceed further based on their statement, we need to build evidence,” sources said.
Further, sources said the forest department was not informed about the change in the operation of the train. “Usually, trains from Palakkad are operated on line B in Madukkarai. However on November 26, the train was diverted through line A on which trains to Palakkad are operated. We were not informed about the diversion,” sources said, adding, “The incident could have been prevented had we been informed since our staff were on duty on line B.”
‘Avoid cultivation as it attracts elephants’
Forest department officials have instructed land owners near the railway track, where the incident happened, to avoid cultivating maize, or banana as they attract elephants