GUWAHATI, Dec 13 - With the death of more than 40 elephants from unnatural causes like train-hits, electrocution, poisoning and poaching in the past 100 days in the State, conservationists are worried that unless urgent interventions are made, long-term survival of the elephant could be jeopardised.
Laying stress on the need for evolving a foolproof monitoring mechanism along the railway tracks across elephant habitats and elephant corridors, Prof Parimal Bhattacharjee, trustee of Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), said that such an experiment done near Deepor Beel in Guwahati and in Karbi Anglong district some years back had yielded desired results.
�In the Deepor Beel area, we were able to put a complete halt to train-induced elephant fatalities. In Karbi Anglong also, it was brought to a minimum. Unfortunately, the arrangement which involved recruitment of locals had to be abandoned for financial constraints,� he said. According to Prof Bhattacharjee, round-the-clock monitoring with greater coordination between Railway and Forest personnel can prevent such avoidable tragedies.
�Everybody involved in the monitoring mechanism, including Forest and Railway personnel, must have coordination. Besides, the train drivers need to be sensitised on the issue so that they will act responsibly while passing through the elephant territory,� he said.
In most of the train-hit elephant deaths, the trains were found to exceed speed limit norms near elephant habitat and corridors. Conservationists also believe that merely slowing down trains while passing through an elephant corridor is not enough and that trains need to slow down along the entire stretch before and beyond a notified corridor.
�Trains need to slow down not just on elephant corridors but through extended stretches frequented by elephants. In North Bengal recently, trains have been directed to go slow along entire stretches and they are doing it,� Prof Bhattacharjee added.
Conservationists attribute the spurt in train hit-induced elephant casualties to the insensitivity of the Railway authorities and the inefficiency of the Forest Department.
�It�s a shame that elephants are regularly dying on train tracks. It�s mainly for the Railway and Forest authorities to evolve a strategy to prevent such elephant fatalities. Speed norms near elephant habitat and corridors should be strictly followed. We also appeal to Union Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain, who is also from Assam, to intervene immediately,� Dr Bibhab Talukdar, secretary general of conservation NGO Aaranyak said.
The frequent violations of speed limits while passing through elephant habitats also undermine a Supreme Court�s directive aimed at protecting the elephant.
The Supreme Court, while entitling elephants as �National Wildlife Wealth�, has repeatedly been expressing serious concern over the accidental killing of wild elephants by speeding trains. The apex court, in December 2013, directed the Union Railway Ministry to slow down all trains when they travel on tracks that pass through reserve forests. The bench had also made it clear that reduced speed limit had to be observed scrupulously, failing which erring drivers and officials would face appropriate action.
A Forest official, on the condition of anonymity, admitted that the spurt in pachyderm fatalities on rail tracks exposed a gap in coordination between the Forest Department and the Railways.
�It�s a fact that train-induced elephant fatalities had come down sharply a couple of years back following an arrangement of joint monitoring and warning. Apparently, some loopholes have weakened the mechanism. An urgent review of the entire exercise is what we need to prevent elephant mortality on tracks,� the official said.
Wildlife experts believe that in a country like India where conditions like unpredictable weather is reason enough to delay trains by undefined periods of time, following the simple slow-down rule in identified animal corridors and habitats cannot really create a dysfunction in the lives of people and operations of the Railways. Assam accounts for about 37 per cent cases of elephant mortality in India, the highest in the country followed by West Bengal, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand.