A team of 14 officials of the Railway Department and Wildlife Conversation Department are observing elephant transit points along the Northern and Eastern railway lines to make recommendations for preventing elephant–train collisions.
This is one of the proposals suggested by the special committee appointed by Transport and Civil Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva for formulating an immediate plan to avoid more elephant–train collisions.
Minister De Silva said once these officers give their observations, a comprehensive plan will be formulated to resolve this issue.
These officials will be observing elephant transit points along the North and East railway lines starting from Mahawa Railway Station, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Anuradhapura, Thalaimannar and Kankasanthurai from October 11-14.
A committee of intellectuals and academics will formulate a comprehensive plan to resolve this issue within five days, once the officials come back with their observations.
The final committee report, plan and financial estimate for the implementation of the recommendations will be handed over to Minister De Silva on October 25.
The Minister expects to obtain Cabinet approval for the plan to be able to implement it before the end of this year.
He said around 12 elephants had died within very short period due to elephant–train collisions. “This is a national crime and it is our duty to help conserve wildlife,” he said.
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