Madras High Judges inspect railway track to prevent elephant deaths

Coimbatore: A team of Madras High Court judges on Sunday inspected the track between Podanur to Walayar to assess the measures initiated by the railways and forest department to prevent the death of wild elephants by train hit incidents.

Justices R Subramanian, N Sathish Kumar, G K Ilanthiraiyan, V Bharathidasan, M Dhandapani, and R Pongiappan travelled in a ‘tower wagon’ to inspect the spots, where wild elephants were run over by trains.

They sought to know the effectiveness of solar lights erected along the tracks, the functioning of honey bee alarms to scare away wild elephants, setting up of ramps, and clearing of bushes to pave way for elephants to cross over the tracks easily.

Along the stretch, bushes have been cleared paving way for elephants to cross over the tracks easily.

Officials said as many as eleven elephants have died in six separate trains hit incidents since 2008. In the latest incident on 26 November last year, three elephants died after being run over by a train.

It is learned that the judges had advised authorities to engage wildlife experts from foreign countries to get suggestions towards protecting elephants. The forest department urged the railways to operate only passenger trains between Coimbatore and Walayar, while goods trains should be diverted through the Podanur-Pollachi-Palakkad route.

However, the railway authorities claimed that it would take a detour of more than 50 kilometers. Earlier, the judges inspected Marappalam, an elephant corridor near Coonoor in the Nilgiris after issues that the road expansion works led to disturbance of elephant movement.

Additional Chief Secretary, Environment, Climate Change and Forests, Supriya Sahu, Coimbatore District Collector GS Sameeran, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden Syed Muzammil Abbas, Conservator of Forests S Ramasubramanian and Coimbatore District Forest Officer TK Ashok Kumar were among those who accompanied the judges.