DC convenes meet with railways, forest authorities
HT Correspondent
JORHAT, Oct 12: The third elephant which received severe injuries due to a hit by the Dibrugarh to Delhi Rajdhani Express near Kharikatia Railway Station off Mariani on Sunday night, succumbed to the injuries at 12:25 am on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday.
It may be mentioned here that due to the accident a female elephant (22 years) and calf (10 months) were killed.
A forest official said that the third elephant which was under treatment since Monday in the Kharikatia tea estate, near the accident site, was shifted to Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary, lifting it with a crane as it could not move.
Despite further treatment, the animal died due to severe internal injuries.
The Mariani range officer Animesh Kalita said that the post mortem report showed two broken legs and damage to the liver.
Meanwhile, the Jorhat deputy commissioner Ashok Kumar Barman has convened a meeting on October 15 at Jorhat with railway authorities to discuss ways to avoid such incidents.
Barman said that he has written to the divisional railway manager based at Tinsukia to hold a discussion to strengthen the coordination between forest department and railways to prevent elephant hits.
The forest department officials would also attend the meeting.
DFO Nanda Kumar has directed ACF Vinod Singhal to conduct an investigation into the incident. A case of offence has also been registered at the Mariani Range Office.
It may be mentioned that to avert train hits of jumbos, which moves along and crosses the tracks from the nearby Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary, information is shared on a WhatsApp group between forest and railway authorities.
On the night of the incident, the forest authorities warned the railway authorities about the presence of an elephant herd near the tracks at Kharikatia in the WhatsApp group.
