Indian Railways Likely To Shift Rail Tracks Out Of Palamu Tiger Reserve To Save Wildlife

Railways and the state forest department will shortly begin a joint inspection to look for alternate routes beyond the main region of Jharkhand's Palamau Tiger Reserve (PTR) in an effort to ensure a secure haven for wildlife. According to a forest department official quoted in PTI's report, if everything goes according to plan, the examination to determine alternate routes for the two current lines and a proposed third line beyond the PTR core area is likely to be completed this month.

The PTR is home to a variety of wild creatures, including elephants, leopards, grey wolves, gaurs, sloth bears, four-horned antelopes, otters, and pangolins. Also, two tiger sightings in 2020 and this year were reported.

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The third-line proposal for a goods corridor running through the core area from Son Nagar in Bihar to Patratu in Jharkhand has been met with opposition from the forest department. The central part of the reserve is planned to have an 11-km long train track installed.

The forest department had raised concern arguing the proposed line will divide the reserve into two zones due to the frequency of trains and permanently fragment the habitat. It will badly impact the movements of wild animals.

The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had also warned against the construction of another railway line in the PTR in 2020. Later, the Jharkhand government took cognizance of the forest departments' concern and sent a proposal to the Railways to shift the proposed line from the core area to the buffer zone of PTR.

"The railways gave its consent recently to explore the alternative alignment of the proposed third railway line and existing two lines outside the PTR core area. The railway tracks will be shifted to the reserve's buffer zone," PTR field director Kumar Ashutosh as per PTI.

One of the country's first nine tiger reserves during Project Tiger's inception, PTR was constituted in 1974. Of the 1,129.93 sq km area of the PTR, 414.08 sq km is marked as the core area (critical tiger habitat) and the remaining part as the buffer zone. Of the total area, 226.32 sq km is designated as Betla National Park. In the buffer zone, 53 sq km is open for tourists.

The first railway track was laid in PTR in 1964 and the second one in 1974-75. "The Railways and forest department officials are expected to carry out a joint inspection for shifting of the proposed third line and other two lines to the buffer area anytime in April," Ashutosh said.

The wildlife experts have welcomed the move saying the initiative will reduce the pressure and disturbance in the core area. Former state wildlife board member DS Srivastava said that shifting all three railway tracks from the core area will reduce casualties of wild animals in the region.

He said, "The existing two lines have caused the death of several wild animals in the reserve. In August 2020, five deer were mowed down by a goods train in the PTR. Some 15 elephants and several other animals like bison and deer were killed on the track in the past decade."

Even if the railway line is shifted from the core area, it will still be within the reserve area, which might impact the movement of migratory elephants, Srivastava said. "I would request railways to provide adequate underpass in the reserve area for elephant movement," Srivastava said.

The PTR which was teeming with tigers in the 1970s reported zero population in 2018. However, a tigress was found dead in February 2020, while a tiger was spotted roaming in the reserve last month.

The reserve recorded its highest tiger population in 1995 with 71 tigers. Thereafter, the population started declining. There were 44 in 1997, 34 in 2002, 10 in 2010, and three in 2014, according to a book written by a former principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife), Jharkhand, Pradeep Kumar.