Conservationists call for lasting solution

COIMBATORE: Wildlife conservationists have called for the forest department to find a permanent solution to prevent train hits of elephants rather than taking up ad-hoc measures.

Even though the newly built underpass is likely to facilitate elephants cross over the track safely, they reiterated that it shouldn’t be considered as a permanent solution to end conflicts. “Our suggestion is that most of the vulnerable ‘B’ line track should be entirely abandoned as it runs through the forest area. Instead, a new track should be laid outside the buffer zone to prevent any conflicts,” J Sathish, director, Kongu Global Forum.

Environmentalist K Mohanraj said that rather than going for such advanced technologies like AI powered warning systems, the forest department should go for real time solutions like acquiring elephant corridors and developing trenches. “Only time will reveal whether the project will be a success or failure,” he said. “The elephants would have got habituated to use other spots and there is no necessity for them to go by the newly constructed underpass,” he added. Even redirecting them into the underpass is risky as the animal may get irked and result in conflicts, environmentalists claimed.