The dead calf lying along the tracks. Picture by Anirban Choudhury

Rajabhatkhawa, Jan. 15: A 10-month-old male elephant calf was dragged along for 900 metres and cut into pieces by a speeding goods train near the Shikari level crossing here last night.

The forest department has alleged that the driver was not following the rules laid down for trains passing through forest reserves, which includes reducing speed. An FIR has been filed against the driver in Kalchini police station.

Around 1.55am, the goods train loaded with foodgrain was heading towards Assam from Siliguri. At the same time, a herd of wild elephants was roaming in forests around the level crossing, which comes under the Rajabhatkhawa (west) range of the Buxa Tiger Reserve (BTR). The calf was standing beside the track and when the train passed, it got sucked under the wheels and was dragged along. The gate-man at the crossing, 21km from Alipurduar town, and a few passers-by were witness to the incident. The driver did not stop the train.

The forest department alleged that it was not the railways, but the passers by, who had informed them. A host of forest officials then visited the spot, 1.5km from the nearest station of Rajabhatkhawa.

In October, the environment ministry had placed a few proposals before the railway board among which were the suspension of trains passing through the forests at night and reducing speed.

This is the 10th elephant to die on tracks in north Bengal after the conversion of the metre gauge to broad on the Alipurduar Junction-Siliguri section in 2004.

Before the conversion, on the basis of a Calcutta High Court order, an expert committee had identified four elephant corridors where drivers had been told to slow down on speed.

The stretch where the calf died does not come under any of the corridors, the railways claimed.

A.P. Singh, the deputy field director the BTR (west), said the driver will be booked under Wild Life Protection Act I. “Asutosh Swami, the general manager of the Northeast Frontier Railway, will visit this section on January 18 and we will meet him to discuss this issue.”

A.K. Jha, the divisional railway manager of Alipurduar, said since the area does not fall within the four specified elephant corridors, it was natural for the train to run at a high speed. “We have followed the instructions of the expert committee. This is nothing but an accident. We always instruct our drivers to control speed in the sensitive zones and go for cautious driving,” said Jha.