Kolkata, Nov 29 : Work has started for the installation of a sensitive sensor alarm system along the railway tracks running through the jungles of the Terai and Dooars region in north Bengal to prevent elephant deaths after colliding with speeding trains.
A vast portion of these railway tracks pass through the forests that have a number of crucial elephant corridors.
Once it is installed, whenever an elephant or a herd come near the railway tracks, the sensitive sensor alarm system will send a signal to the nearest station, which in due course will alert the driver of the moving train.
A message will be also sent to the nearest office of the concerned forest ranger for further measures.
State forest department officials feel that once this system is fully installed it will substantially bring down the incidences of tuskers dying or getting injured after colliding with the speeding trains in the region.
As part of the pilot project, the system will be installed covering a distance of approximately 50 km from Diana River Bridge at Nagrakata in Jalpaiguri district to Matharihat in Alipurduar.
The forest department has already initiated two ambitious schemes to prevent the human-elephant conflict which had been frequent in the state over the years.
The first project is setting up dedicated elephant corridors in north Bengal covering mainly the forest belts of Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri; and Bagdogra and Bankura, Purulia and Jhargram in south Bengal.
The project is implemented at a cost of Rs 620 crore and is funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
The second project is the appointment of 600 local youths from these pockets as ‘Gajamitras’ (friends of elephants).
They will be provided with special Android sets with a specialised Gajamitra app.
These Gajamitras will procure advance information about the movement of elephant herds, alert the state forest department and local people, so that preventive measures can be taken for avoiding human-elephant conflict.
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