Title - Nod to Sikkim rail link poses jumbo threat

KOLKATA: A killer stretch of railway track that cuts across a critical wildlife corridor in North Bengal and sees an average of five elephant deaths every year due to train accidents may soon see an increase in traffic.

The state government has quietly given its nod to the proposed extension of the broad gauge line from Sevoke to Sikkim's Rongpo that will pass through the Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary and a handful of key elephant-inhabited stretches. The existing rail link from New Jalpaiguri to Sevoke, which passes through a part of the Mahananda, has already seen five elephant deaths this year - on January 5, the Jhajha Express crushed three male and two female jumbos. Almost 40 elephant deaths were reported there between 2004 and 2012.

A section of the state's wildlife advisory board members, who had sought an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the project at the last meeting in February, 2012, have alleged they were kept in the dark as the state forwarded the clearance to the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF). But the state's chief wildlife warden, S B Mondal, said the government did not consider the project a threat to wildlife. The Trinamool Congress held the railway ministry when the clearance was given.

An MoEF source said a three-member standing committee team of National Board of Wildlife will survey the site on Tuesday and Wednesday. If they give their nod, the project will get under way.