3 elephants hit by train in Bengal, die

A day after three elephants were killed in a train accident in West Bengal, Union environment minister Anil Madhav Dave on Saturday sought a detailed report on the incident. Mr Dave asked all concerned local authorities to ascertain the exact reasons behind the accident and directed the state forest department officials to discuss the issue with railway authorities and put in place appropriate measures for the conservation of elephants.

Three elephants had died on Friday evening after being hit by a train in the Bankura- Howrah section in West Bengal. Divisional forest officer of Panchet, Ayan Ghosh, said that the two elephant calves and their mother were knocked down by the Kharagpur- Adra passenger train at around 7.30 pm.

The train moved on but the jumbos’ mutilated carcasses spread across the tracks between Bisnupur in Bankura and Piyardoba in West Midnapore for over two

The Union environment minister asked the authorities to ascertain the exact reasons behind the accident and said measures must be taken to save elephants

hours, disrupting train movement in the section, the DFO added. The carcasses were removed from the tracks by forest and rail personnel, with the help of locals.

A statement from the environment ministry said: “The ministry has initiated steps to prepare a regional landscape plan for the conservation of elephants in the east central elephant landscape, comprising the states of West Bengal, Orissa, Jharkhand and other elephant areas. The West Bengal forest department has also prepared a threeyear action plan for controlling human- elephant conflict in south Bengal as part of which SMS alerts will be send to railway authorities on the movement of elephants near railway tracks to prevent such accidents.”