New Delhi: A total of 80 elephants died in the country due to railway accidents in the last five years with 15 such cases reported in 2021, 12 cases in 2020, 14 cases in 2019, 19 cases in 2018 and 20 cases in 2017, the government said in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. This information came as a response from Ashwini Kumar Choubey, MoS, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, as a written reply to a question posed by BJD MP Prashanta Nanda asking about the number of elephant deaths on railway tracks during the last five years. As per the data shared by the MoS, Assam recorded the most number of elephants casualties in train accidents in 2021, 2020 and 2017 with 8, 5 and 10 deaths accounting for 27 deaths in the five years, followed by 17 deaths in Odisha, 13 in West Bengal in the last five years.
To a question on whether the Supreme Court has issued any direction to the Union Government to minimise the elephant deaths due to train accidents, the MoS in his reply pointed out the "Shakti Prasad Nayak vs Union of India &Ors", as per which the apex court said, "Necessary steps should be taken by the railways all over the country to reduce the speed limit of running trains that are passing through dense forests, divert fast moving and night trains through Siliguri -Falakata route and others". "The Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change in coordination with the Ministry of Railways has taken a number of measures to prevent elephant deaths on railway tracks," the MoS said.
