Meet to devise strategy to minimise elephant deaths due to train-hits. K Anurag reports
Five elephants were killed on the spot late on Wednesday night while two others succumbed to their injuries in the morning, divisional forest officer (wildlife) Sunita Ghatak said. A herd of elephants was crossing the railway tracks while going from Moraghat forest to Diana forest on Wednesday night, when two baby elephants got trapped on the tracks, she said. When other elephants came to the rescue of the baby elephants, a goods train hit the herd
In yet another jolt for the Trinamool Congress dispensation, West Bengal forest minister Rajib Banerjee quit the Mamata Banerjee cabinet, joining the growing list of dissenters who have put the ruling camp in a tight spot ahead of the assembly elections.
'Mamata is an emotional person, she follows her heart.' 'We loved that Didi, we still love her, but she is a changed person.' 'Why and how the change happened, who is responsible, I can't say.'
An ecological disaster is in the making in the Sunderbans, the world's largest mangrove forest spanning across the Indo-Bangla border, after an oil tanker collided with an empty cargo vessel. The incident spilled nearly 350 tonnes of oil into the Sela river, threatening the survival of multiple species of flora and fauna.