Tripura Government Seeks Underpasses for Elephant Corridor Safety

AGARTALA: The government of Tripura has officially sought the help of the National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) in building two or three underpasses on the Mungiakami elephant corridor in Khowai district so that elephants can move safely and without obstruction while NHIDCL carries out the upgradation of National Highway 8.

NHIDCL is upgrading the Chakmaghat-Teliamura highway section right now. The Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, RK Samal, insisted on the concerns of the government and said the suggested underpasses would ensure accidents involving elephants didn't occur any more.

The seriousness of the issue was brought into focus after a mature male elephant was hit and killed by a train in Mungiakami on December 31. The heart-wrenching accident has raised a serious issue of conservation, especially for the 20-herd elephant group, which had just two mature males. One male elephant being lost could make an enormous difference in the population structure of the herd.

Against these fears, the Forest Department has asked the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) to put into effect immediate safety measures.

These are lowering train speeds along the elephant corridor, building underpasses and overbridges, and putting up fencing on both sides of the railway lines to avoid more accidents.

But nothing has been heard from the NFR so far, and conservationists and officials are concerned about the safety of the region's elephants.

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