C’garh: Centre Prepares Plan To Protect Wild Animals From Being Hit by Trains: Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav

Raipur: Union minister Bhupender Yadav has said that the Centre has readied a plan under the ‘Project Elephant’ to protect the tuskers and other wild animals from being hit by running trains.

The Centre has prepared a list of potential areas in a stretch of 2455 km under 110 railway divisions in 12 states, where the wild animals including the elephants have the chances of being hit by the running trains, he said while addressing a function held here on the occasion of the World Elephant Day on Monday.

He said that the plan focused on putting in place a mechanism to provide immediate succour to the affected wild animals in such areas.

Mr Yadav said that India’s model for elephant conservation is the best in the world and said that the country has made legal provisions to protect the animal species.

“For conservation of elephants in India, a strong institutional structure has been created”, he said.

He said that the people of the country believed in the dictum, if the elephants are saved, the forest will prosper and hence, the tusker has become an integral part of the religious and cultural traditions of India.

According to the 2017 census, there are 29,964 pachyderms in India.

Similarly, there are 33 elephant reserves and 150 elephant corridors in 14 states in the country.

He hailed Chhattisgarh forest department’s innovative programmes to use radio medium to alert people about movements of the elephants, which allows people to take preventive steps to avoid loss of life and minimise damage to the crops.

Chhattisgarh chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai also spoke on the occasion.