Killer tracks in tiger reserve Animals fall prey to speeding trains, blame game on

Ranchi, July 26: Around 70 Up and Down trains, often flouting regulation speed limits, use an 8-km railway track that cuts through Palamau Tiger Reserve in the Chipadohor area of Betla forest, proving to be a menace for the animal population.

A three-year-old elephant calf was fatally hit by a goods train speeding at 60kmph on July 22 night. However, the carcass on tracks has simply sparked a war of words between the state forest department and Dhanbad railway division.

Officials at the reserve blame the railways for not sticking to an agreed upon speed limit. But, the railways claim they always do, also clarifying that the death of the calf occurred in an area that was beyond the zone with speed curbs.

At a joint meeting in 2004-05, a mutual agreement was drafted between the forest department and railways. Trains were supposed to run within the speed limit of 20kmph, blow horns and keep high mast lights on. Labourers were supposed to be employed to uproot bushes regularly for visibility and sprinkle lubricants on tracks to ward off animals.

However, the forest department officials claim nothing of the sort happened.

According to PTR director S.E.H. Kazmi, senior railway officials pass the buck, claiming manpower crunch, but do nothing to sensitise employees who man the trains. “No one seems to be aware of any rule. Fortunately, no tiger has been mowed down yet,” he said.

He agreed the track was a threat to ecological sanctity, but said nothing could be done as the rail link existed much before the reserve came into being in 1973. “Diverting it practically is not possible. It’s one of the two routes connecting Delhi and Ranchi,” he said.

However, divisional railway manager (Dhanbad division) Anand Sagar Upadhyay denied rules were violated. There’s an 8km stretch between Chipadohor and Hehegara, but speed restrictions are applicable on 2km. Of the stretch, 1km is a caution zone where a speed limit of 20-25kmph is to be maintained, while the other is a lookout zone, where the driver has to be alert, but not maintain speed limit. The incident took place beyond the restricted 2km and we aren’t at fault,” he said.

He added that they had written to the forest department last year, asking for a review on speed limits. “They (the department) said things are fine,” Upadhyay said, adding according to their records, animal deaths due to trains took place in 1981-82 and 2003-04.

“Our record shows we are enforcing better speeds,” he said, but then went on to add a technical nitty-gritty. “The goods train had a high capacity engine, which meant it could have clocked speed in no time. In this case, even if the driver intended to stop the train, he couldn’t have done so immediately,” he said.

Which means even emergency brakes wouldn’t have saved the animal.

However, even if no one wants to own up responsibility, the death of the elephant is prompting a reaction. Casualties of small animals such as goats, deer, hares, among others, are frequently not recorded as villagers collect the carcass. In the case of larger animals, too, forest department officials plead helplessness, saying they don’t have enough manpower or patrolling jeeps.

But the reason that no one admits is that if all accidents were recorded, it would make both the forest department and the railways cut a sorry figure.