Train mows down tusker, second time this year

Environmentalist blames top authorities for incident

NBS Times Report

Jalpaiguri March 5:  A Guwahati bound Sampark Kranti express mowed down a tusker near 163/3 railway pillar compartment no 4 at Damanpur in Buxa Tiger Reserve (BTR) this morning triggering a fresh anger among environmentalist and residents in the region. Damanpur is 3 kms away from the Alipurduar junction.

The train sources said was at a high speed and the driver could not put the brakes on time. The jumbo after being hit was pushed 200-250 meters away from the point of collision that speaks of the speed that the train was travelling at. The incident is a second one this year. Earlier in January five jumbos were killed in a single incident at Madhugachh near Rajabhatkhawa in BTR also by a Guwahati bound Jhaja Express moving from NJP to Alipurduar Junction.  

Forest officials however blamed the railway authorities for the incident that has been occurring repeatedly in the route. “Unless the track between NJP and New Alipurduar stations is doubled and the goods trains along with the special trains are shifted to that line, such incidents will keep on happening. But the railways is very much indifferent to the issue apart from giving some speeches,” said RP Saini, Field Director of BTR.

The residents of Damanpur put up a blockade on the Alipurduar Junction and NJP track demanding steps to be taken by the railway department to curb elephant deaths immediately after the incident. The blockade was lifted half-an-hour after the intervention of foresters and railway officials.

Environmentalists described the incident as murder. “This is not an accident. It is a murder. The tusker was mowed down during broad daylight. This is the carelessness of the driver who could have been more cautious,” said Animesh Basu, coordinator of Himalayan Nature and Adventure Foundation.

Along the 168 km stretch on an average more than five elephants are mowed down in a year. In the past 12 years as many as 40 elephants have been killed hit by trains on this track.

“The most tragic part of it is that persons at the helm of affairs are not really interested in sorting the problem out. The same incident is going on happening and yet the Railways are indifferent to the issue,” said Basu.

Residents of Damanpur blocked highway for half hour demanding immediate measure to stop the menace.