COIMBATORE: Panic gripped employees in Hillgrove railway station on Wednesday morning after a herd of wild elephants wandered close to the building as a wall prevented them from crossing the tracks.
The video of the elephants standing on the tracks went viral.
Speaking to TNIE, Additional Chief Secretary of Environment, Climate Change & Forests Supriya Sahu, who tweeted the video, said "We are working with Railways in facilitating a pathway for elephants. In the video, we were able to see that the herd got puzzled once it saw the wall close to the track at the Hillgrove station. We would have suggested leaving a gap or pathway in the wall for elephants to cross had officials consulted us before building the wall."
"In order to avoid such incidents in future, we are planning to organise workshops and online programmes for infrastructure-related departments through the forest department," she added.
Recently, a seven-member committee of Project Elephant Division submitted a report to the Union ministry stating that 24 elephants were killed in 20 train accidents between Podanur and Palakkad since 1978. Citing the report, activists urged the Ministry of Railways and the Forest department to construct wildlife-friendly railway stations and build a secure wildlife crossing zone for the animals to prevent human-animal conflicts.
"Being humans, we are the ones who are on the path of the wildlife. We should never disturb or be a hindrance to wildlife. As the Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) trains generally proceed at a slow pace of less than 20 kmph, no accidents have been reported in recent times. However, making the railway zone wildlife-friendly is very important," said K Natarajan, Founder & President of Nilgiri Heritage Steam Carrier Trust.
"The government must listen to NGOs and wildlife experts and create pathways for the elephants at specific spots along the railway tracks. Although officials have created pathways for elephants at certain stations, including Runnymede, some people close them with fences. Awareness must be created for them" Natarajan concluded.