CAG raps Ministries for elephant deaths
The Hindu
No underpass, overpass built in identified locations by Railways or State governments
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has pulled up the Union Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) for neglecting the elephant corridors in the Palakkad railway division. Elephants continue to die on rail tracks despite the Ministries jointly initiating short- and long-term measures, the CAG says in its latest report.
Neither Railways nor the State governments of Tamil Nadu and Kerala have approached the authorities concerned of the Centrally sponsored Project Elephant for a permanent mitigation plan in the Podanur-Palakkad rail section. Seven elephant passages have been identified in the 48-km Podanur-Palakkad section which passes through the reserve forests of the Western Ghats. This section is a part of the main line from Chennai to Thiruvananthapuram via Erode.