Railways, Forest Dept. to discuss measures to habituate elephants to use underpass on Ettimadai – Walayar section:
Officials from the Railways and the Tamil Nadu Forest Department will soon have a meeting to discuss measures to be taken to lure wild elephants to use the newly-constructed underpass on Ettimadai – Walayar section.
Sources with the Palakkad division of the Southern Railway said a meeting will take place in the coming days to chalk out strategies that are required to attract and habituate elephants to use the underpass.
Railway sources said that 99% of the works of the underpass, first of its kind by the Southern Railway, have been completed. Trains are now passing through the composite girder placed on the underpass structure.
A few more works, including removal of certain materials used for the construction, are pending and the Palakkad division will complete them soon, they added.
S.M. Sharma, Divisional Railway Manager of the Thiruvananthapuram division, who is holding additional charge of the Palakkad division, inspected the underpass in the early hours of Saturday.
The 18.3-metre-long clear span girder of the underpass has a vertical clearance of 7.5 metre from ground level. The location of the underpass, ‘km 505A/400-500’ of ‘B’ line [of the ‘A’ and ‘B’ twin single line between Ettimadai – Walayar], falls within the limits of the Madukkarai forest range of the Coimbatore forest division.
N. Jayaraj, District Forest Officer of the Coimbatore forest division, said the Forest Department was informed about the meeting-cum-joint inspection of the underpass, which is expected to be held soon.
What's Your Reaction?
