Belagavi: Incidents of wild animals being run over by speeding trains have increased in the forest area of Khanapur taluk in recent years. Over 30 animals including three elephants have been killed in the past four years but no proper measures have been taken to protect the animals.Forests cover a large part Khanapur taluk. Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary here has a high population of animals. Environmentalists have expressed concern over trains running over wild animals.As many as 20 animals including bisons, panthers and tigers were killed by trains in 2017. Most of these deaths took place in Londa and Nagaragali forest ranges.After the death of a panther last year, the forest department had urged the railway department to take measures to protect animals but in vain.According to ACF CB Patil, the forest department has given many suggestions to the railway department to take measures like reducing the speed of trains while passing through forest areas, installing fencing along the track and enforcing a ban on passengers throwing food in the forest stretch.But none of them were implemented. Fed up with the negligence of the railways, the forest department had also registered a complaint against SWR executive engineer in 2017 after the death of an elephant near Tavarakatti.According to range forest officer S S Ningani, one of the reasons for the increasing instances of animal deaths is the rise in train movement.“Presently, track doubling work on the Londa route is going on and once the work is finished the movement of trains will increase and so will instances of animal deaths. There is a need of coordination between railway and forest department to tackle the problem. There are some areas where such accidents can be averted by changing the regular habitat of wild animals,” Ningani said.

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