PFA activists protest against elephants killing

GUWAHATI - Activists of People For Animals (PFA), a voluntary forum working for the welfare of the animals staged a protest against the recurring accidents of elephants being knocked down by trains in a region that they contend is a corridor for the jumbos from Garbhanga Reserve Forest.

The activists blocked the railway track along the Kamakhya-Jogighopa Section near Guwahati to carry forward their protest.

Sangeeta Goswami, an activist of PFA, said, “Last year 15 elephants were trampled by the trains, totally killed and some injured. We think that this train line should be removed. And if it is not possible for the government to remove the entire line, then why don’t they clear up the corridors. Why are they letting the elephants be killed?”

“Suppose a human (is) were killed here, what would have happened? So people are not concerned. Railway people are asking us to go back…no problem. We will we will go back. But this is the problem that has been going on since long and what measures have the railways (authorities) taken?” she added.

Further, Goswami mentioned that a memorandum in this regard had already been submitted to the zonal railway authorities and if need be this would be taken up with the Railway Board in New Delhi.

The members of PFA were upset over the recent killing of two cow elephant by a goods train. A pregnant elephant was killed near the ‘Deepor Beel’ bridge after it was hit on February 27.

Herds of elephants from the reserve forest area come to Deepor Beel Lake to quench thirst and also bathe, and often these pachyderms have to cross the railway tracks.

The PFA activists stood by the Deepor Beel Bridge and demanded that those railway lines, which intrude in the way of the elephant corridors be removed.

Speeding trains in the Deepor Beel region have reportedly killed 31 elephants since 1998. (ANI)