Gujarat: Alert loco pilots saved lives of 75 lions in last 18 months

RAJKOT: Thanks to alert railway crew, lives of four lions were saved last week from being run over on Pipavav section of Pipavav-Rajula track in Amreli district.
Unfortunately, the forest department fails to project the same level of enthusiasm shown by humans in lion protection as it is yet to repair the fencing on this busiest railway track that had been damaged during the Tauktae cyclone in May.

“On September 16, loco pilot S K Sinha spotted four lions on the track between Savarkundla and Mota Liliya sometime around 7.50pm amid the darkness and immediately applied emergency brakes. His alertness and timely action saved the lions,” a statement issued by the railway said.
Bhavnagar division of western railway stated that its crew have saved lives of 75 lions since April 2020 by halting trains for hours on this section that has maximum frequency of goods trains owing to the Pipavav port. Nearly 25 trains pass by this route in a day, even amid restricted speed, most of them being goods trains as well as many double decker trains.
According to railway authority, there were 52 incidents in 2020-21 and 23 in 2021-22 (till September) of lions trespassing the tracks or were seen close to the tracks.
However, according to forest department sources, the fencing it had erected around the railway track to prevent lions straying into train path got badly damaged during the recent cyclone on a 8 to 10 km stretch which has made lion incursions easy on the track.
D T Vasavda chief conservator of forest (wildlife division) told TOI, “I have asked my staff to give me a report about the cyclone damage and based on that we will repair the fence.”