Have you heard the roar of a tiger in the wild , if not then experience it in the wild only then you can understand why it is called the king of the jungle.This week there is a sad news emerging from the jungles of Dudhwa national park of a full grown young tiger coming under the wheels of 19 down Express passing through the Dudhwa Tiger reserve.
It has been a long standing plea of UP forest Department to relocate the railway track passing through the park as over a period of time it has claimed the lives of many helpless wild animals including Four adult Tigers/Tigresses,four cubs,three Elephants,and Deer,Bisons,Cheetals and other animals too have been killed under the wheels of train over a period of time as per a report published in the Times of India ,Lko edition.
This is a sad commentary on the state of affairs in the matters of Wildlife protection. As I understand the matter of relocation of Railway tracks is pending for the last one Decade and various suggestions have been floated. One of the prominent suggestion is limiting the speed of trains passing through the reserve which I feel is not a feasible option. Is there any mechanism in place to monitor the speed of trains? instead the drivers and other Railway operating staff should be sensitised to protect wildlife and for this workshops should be conducted for the specific purpose by leading Conservationists who can impress upon them the importance of wildlife protection.
New Technologies available worldwide should be explored to deter the animals from venturing near the railway tracks, today there is a news in the media that Dehradun based Wildlife institute of India in a joint effort with Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi have started a pilot project in Rajaji National Park, Uttaranchal to prevent Elephant deaths from collision with train. In the project they have equipped the Railway track passing through the park with Hi-tech wireless sensor network. In this setup as soon as an Elephant comes near the rly track, sensors will relay the information to local control room further this information will be given to local railway unit and the train driver will also be informed. This ensures timely preventive action. This project has been declared successful. Dudhwa tiger reserve authorities and Railway officials can implement the same and ensure that lives of helpless Wild animals are saved.
In my opinion an urgent initiative needs to be taken on this issue as early as possible otherwise all the good work being done by the reserve officials will be negated. Incidentally Dudhwa national park has been declared the second best Tiger reserve in India and to be the best it needs the support of all agencies involved in Wildlife protection especially the Railway authorities. It is a fervent appeal of all the well wishers of the wildlife in Dudhwa to all concerned to come up with a viable solution at the earliest so that the King of Jungle survives and we keep on hearing its roar in the jungles of Dudhwa.
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