Ramgarh: In a rare display of coordination between the railways and the state forest department, a goods train carrying coal was stopped for over two hours in Jharkhand to enable a pregnant elephant, who was in labour next to the track, to give birth to her calf undisturbed.
Videos of the elephant giving birth and then moving away with her calf went viral on social media on Tuesday, with netizens hailing the effort.
According to officials, the incident took place on a forested stretch between Barkakana and Hazaribag railway stations in Jharkhand. Since the particular track is primarily used for transportation of goods, no passenger train was affected.
The incident occurred about two weeks ago around 3 am when forest officials contacted the railways to halt the goods trains for a few hours. The loco pilot was immediately alerted and he applied brakes a short distance away from the spot.
“A forest guard informed me that a pregnant elephant is lying on the tracks in labour pain. He warned that it might get run over, and requested to stop all train movement along the route. I immediately contacted the railway control room in Barkakana and requested them to stop all trains,” said Nitish Kumar, divisional forest officer, Ramgarh.
On Wednesday, Union forest minister Bhupender Yadav reacted to the news on X.
“Beyond the news of human-animal conflicts, happy to share this example of human-animal harmonious existence. A train in Jharkhand waited for two hours as an elephant delivered her calf. The video shows how the two later walked on happily,” Yadav posted.
“Following a whole-of government approach, @MOEFCC and @RailMinIndia have identified more the 110 sensitive spots by surveying 3,500 km of railway tracks in the country. It is lovely to see the efforts producing such heart-warming results. Special kudos to @JharkhandVan officials for their sensitivity which helped the elephant deliver her young one,” he added.
The heart-warming incident is in sharp contrast to rising incidents of human-elephant conflict in Jharkhand that has reported a staggering loss of 474 human lives in the past five years due to such conflicts, making the state’s fatality figure second only to Odisha in the country, former junior Union minister for environment, forest and climate change, Kriti Vardhan Singh, had said in a written response in Lok Sabha.
Besides, 30 elephants had died in the state because of electrocution and various other reasons between 2019 and July 2024, Parliament was apprised.
