RailEnquiry

With the gory death of the five elephants which were run over by Coromandel Express, the blame game has begun. As soon as news of the shocking incident broke on Sunday morning, the Wildlife Wing was quick to point out that the East Coast Railways (ECoR) was responsible for the mishap because the latter had been intimated about the movement of the elephant herd. “About 15 minutes before the accident took place, we had informed the railway authorities. When the number was contacted, we were asked to call another person. By the time, the railway authorities acted, the mishap had already occurred,” Chief Wildlife Warden Janardhan Dibakar Sharma said.The superfast express mauled the five elephants at 12.43 am and the ECoR authorities said when they were intimated about the movement of the jumbos, the mishap had already taken place. “It was an unfortunate incident but we cannot be blamed for this. What was the Wildlife Wing doing till so late? Did they not have elephant trackers to know the exact movement of the herd,” wondered a spokesman of the ECoR. The railway authorities said, they received the news about movement of the jumbos at 12.43 am only. “Action had been taken by the ECoR on receipt of the information from the Forest Department but by that time, the accident had occurred,” an official communique said.

 Berhampur DFO Sudhansu Mohan Mishra said, the railway authorities were informed at 12.38 am. “We called up the Khurda Road DRM office and informed about the movement but they did nothing to slow down the train,” he added.

The Chief Wildlife Warden put the blame squarely on the railways saying that in the last coordination meeting, the latter had been asked to put up signages at the point so that drivers could slow down the speed of the train. “Display boards  declaring the area as elephant movement region have been put up but the drivers do not pay any heed. So what can we do,” Sharma said.

 However, some locals pointed out that the wildlife authorities were apparently trying to drive the herd away by bursting firecrackers. That drove the herd away and led it across the track.