: 'Mission Madukkarai Maharaj' to capture a rogue elephant which has been creating panic among people of Madukkarai and nearby areas for the last one year officially got underway today.
Officials from the forest and animal husbandry departments, anti poaching squad and police commenced the operation today, forest department sources said.
The principal chief conservator of forests in Chennai had ordered to tranquilise and translocate the pachyderm,which had killed at least three persons and destroyed lakhs of Rupees worth agricultural produce.
Four kumkis (tamed and trained elephants) were brought from various camps in Tamil Nadu in the last one week and test trials carried out on how to take the problematic elephant to the wooden kraal and from there to lorry for translocating.
However, the officials faced a big problem as the elephant was seen with two other pachderms and moving around in different areas, including those in neighbouring Kerala.
Meanwhile officials got information that some elephants had entered a farm and destroyed banana plantations early today in Ettimadai, some five km from the place of operations.
The officials are optimistic they can capture the elephant within 78 hours, as they are sure to zero in the location of elephants in another 48 hours.
However, the question was how the rogue elephant could be identified for tranquilising it, they said.
"The members of the committees will inform the Railway
Control Room whenever movement of elephants is noticed so that same can be passed on to train drivers for controlling the speed.
The local level monitoring committees will be constituted in all the 29 elephant corridors falling within railway tracks," the statement said.
For improved communication, the Railway Control Rooms will be manned by both Forest and Railway personnel, it added.
Underlining the need for a long-time strategy to stop all such incidents in future, Sonowal said the Forest department has to improve their communication network and adopt new technologies.
He instructed the department to implement Advance Warning System, solar lights with alarms at vulnerable railway tracks,use of remote sensor and GPS indicator insertion at leaders of elephant herds to locate their movement.
Sonowal also stressed on the need to study elephants' behaviour in the area by the Forest department and construction of need-based overpass and underpass at railway tracks by the Railways.
Urging the Forest and Railway officials to be more sensitive to the well-being of animals, the Chief Minister directed to immediately conduct sensitisation meeting of train drivers (loco pilots) and higher officials of railways.
He informed that he had already discussed the issue of mowing down of elephants by trains with Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, who assured him to extend all possible help in improving the situation.
During 2016, the number of elephant deaths on railway tracks has gone up alarmingly with the Forest Department putting the figure at 16 so far compared to only four such incidents in 2015.
In this month alone, 11 elephants have been killed by trains with seven in Nagaon district, while the rest in Karbi Anglong and Bongaigaon.
