By our Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, May 17: Train tracks ske through some of the spectacular countrysides in Assam, including hill terrains and lush green plains. Like roads that have crisscrossed the state, railway lines too pass through many forest areas, including bird sanctuaries, and wetlands, including winter habitats for migratory birds. What is more significant is that in the entire stretch of railway lines in Assam there are as many as eight elephant corridors that result in a direct showdown between men and elephants. Assam has been a place in the world where man-elephant conflict is still in its crude form.
Reports of trains running over herds of elephants at Deepor Beel in Guwahati is a regular matter that, nowadays, hardly shock anybody as the audience are a bit of hard-bitten now due to frequent occurrences of such incidents. Incidents like elephants destroying cultivated fields, killing people, man's cruelty on animals and the like are too frequent in Assam since depredation by elephants and leopards is very common in residential areas in Guwahati itself.
There are, according to an NF Railway official, as many as eight elephant corridors in Rangia and Lumding Division of NF Railway in Assam. Thus, train traffic in Assam is by no means an easy task since all parties concerned need to be cautious enough so that no pachyderm is killed or injured by any running train.
This has made the situation very sticky, and this can be tackled only by personnel who are trained properly . According to sources, both NF Railway and Assam Forest department conduct training in this area, yet killing of elephants by running trains regularly hit headlines in the media.
"The grassroots-level workers of NF Railway are not fully aware of the very ture of the problem. There are frequent training on techniques to be adopted while running trains amid an elephant corridor. Such training, however, remain confined only among the upper-level employees. Lower-level workers, who are supposed to implement the techniques in the fields are not properly skilled for the job," an official in the NF Railway told this reporter.
The identified elephant corridors in the Rangia and Lumding division of NF Railway and their lengths are Kamakhya- Azara (five kilometres), Mirza- Chhaygaon (three kilometres), Dudhnoi- Krishi (three kilometres), Krishi- Goalpara (eight kilometres), Panikhaiti- Dharakuchi (one kilometre), Haawaaipur- Lamsakham (300 metres), Lamsakham- Patharkhula (300 metres) and Doldoli Lamding- Dhansiri (300 metres). These corridors, identified by the State Forest Department, are also agreed to by the Railways.
The lower-level NF Railway workers are supposed to follow some precautions like the speed limit should not exceed 50 km per hour, blowing of whistle when the drivers see elephants and to inform the nearest station by points men and patrol men through walkie talkie.
In January this year an accident took place in the Patharkhula area allegedly due to negligence on the part of workers, leading to the blocking of many trains for about six hours.
Meanwhile, NF Railway passes the buck on the State Forest Department, and says that the latter does not play its role properly. "Due to deforestation and disturbances by men, many elephants get disturbed and want to change their habitats. During such migrations they meet with accidents, mostly at night since pachyderms generally loiter more at nights," the NF Railway official added.