A female elephant and her calf were killed after they were hit by Rajdhani Express. The incident took place at Kharikatia railway station in Assam’s Jorhat district. A herd of elephants were crossing the track when a 22-year-old female elephant and her 10-month-old calf were hit. As soon as the information was sent, a team came to the site. They examined the elephants and declared them dead.
Elephants Hit By Express
The forest officials said that the incident took place around 10:30 pm on Sunday. The elephants were hit and dragged for about 50 meters on the tracks by Naginimora Rajdhani Express. Biken Pegu, Forest officer of Jorhat district said that the matter is under investigation and they will surely take action as per the law. The forest department had already informed the railway officials about the movement of elephants.They had also requested to slow down the trains near these areas as they pass but that did not happen.
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Rail Officials Denied Allegations
Pegu said that they had informed the railway officials at 8 pm on Sunday about the movement of elephants on a Whatsapp group. They had asked them to reduce the speed but they did not do so. He said that their department had also written letters prescribing their speed limits in these areas but they responded by saying they will incur a loss if they reduced their speed. The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) officials denied the allegations and said that the speed of the train as prescribed by the forest department was below 50 km per hour. He said that the visibility was poor as it was 11 pm but still the loco pilot tried to save the elephants by stopping the train.
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