Forest and Railway departments meet on Tuesday over Gir Lions

Ahmedabad, 2 June, 2014

Conservator of Forest, Junagadh Wildlife circle, RL Meena will visit Mumbai on 3rd June to hold a meeting with Western Railway’s General Manager. The meeting of officials led by principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) C N Pandey has been organized to discuss the issue of frequent incidents of deaths of lions hit by trains passing through a particular stretch in Amreli district. The trains to/from Pipavav port run during dark hours of night and pass through the area of lion habitat.

The forest department is going to suggest an alternative route to Pipavav port. Fencing along the line in 3 km area of lion habitate with underpasses, slower speed of train at around 25 km/hour, no movements of trains in the night hours etc are other areas of discussion. Six lions hit by goods train(to/from Pipavav port) have been found dead this year in the Rajula region of Amreli district(outside the forest area).