Elephant Herd Risks Lives To Cross Rail Track In Nilgiris, IAS Officer Shares Video To Draw Ministry Attention

Principal Secretary (Environment) Supriya Sahu shared the video on Twitter, and spoke about the need for wildlife-friendly design and execution of infrastructure projects.

Screengram from the video shared by IAS officer Supriya Sahu on Twitter

New Delhi: A video clip showing a herd of elephants crossing a railway track next to what looks like a railway station in thr Nilgiris has netizens raising concern about the safety of the animals who find their natural habitat taken over by humans.

IAS officer Supriya Sahu, who is Principal Secretary (Environment), shared the video on Twitter, and spoke about the need for wildlife-friendly design and execution of infrastructure projects.

Tagging the Ministry of Railways, she posted: "Distressing to see that this herd of elephants had to negotiate their way through danger filled railway track. Need to have a mandatory SOP for all infra agencies towads sensitive wildlife friendly design & execution."

The tweet posted at 12.43 pm Wednesday is being widely shared. At the time of writing this report, the post already had over 1,000 likes and it been retweeted more than 300 times.

Former Doordarshan Director General Supriya Sahu, who is now the "Monitoring officer, Nilgiris" according to her Twitter bio, regularly shares posts on environmenal awareness.

Distressing to see that this herd of elephants had to negotiate their way through danger filled railway track. Need to have a mandatory SOP for all infra agencies towads sensitive wildlife friendly design & execution #savewildlife @RailMinIndia #elephants #Nilgiris pic.twitter.com/tSiKk3aTXS

— Supriya Sahu IAS (@supriyasahuias) February 2, 2022

On January 14, she had posted a video from Odisha and praised the authorities concerned for "sensitive & careful planning when building infrastructure near forests".

The video showed a heard of nearly 50 elephants using a ramp made for them to pass an irrigation canal in the Dhenkanal Forest Division.   

"A group of 47 elephants are using this ramp made for them on the Irrigation Canal in the Dhenkanal Forest Division in Odisha. An excellent example of sensitive & careful planning when building infrastructure near forests," she posted.

A group of 47 elephants are using this ramp made for them on the Irrigation Canal in the Dhenkanal Forest Division in Odisha. An excellent example of sensitive & careful planning when building infrastructure near forests.Kudos 👏👏 DFO Dhenkanal #elephants #wildlife pic.twitter.com/Lw1WPLH9OZ

— Supriya Sahu IAS (@supriyasahuias) January 14, 2022