A paisa-vasool action..Page 4 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2019 INTERNET EDITION : www.dailyexcelsior.com/magazine Shirdhi Sai, incarnation..Page 3 Wild animals that die on roads

Amit Sharma Group in 2015, to study the impact of roads on Indian wildlife. A team of five wildlife conservationists led by Mr. RTA's this is how the doctor's categorize any R. Mohammed Saleem, had undertaken a forty-four-day injury/death that occur on the road, because expedition, traveling more than 17,000 kilometres across of vehicular hit. RTA stands for "Road Traffic 22 states to study and spread awareness on roadkill. The question comes what to do? Under "The Jammu Accident", in India RTA/Traffic Collisions are and Kashmir Wildlife Protection Act 1978 AA 2002" a major source of deaths, injuries and property killing of any wild animal by any means is an offence, until damage every year. and unless proves otherwise. Since, it is very difficult to know who has hit the wild animal on the road, making it The Report on Road Safety, published by the World impossible to convict the culprit in the absence of the con- Health Organization (WHO) identified the major causes of crete evidences. traffic collisions as rash driving/over the speed limit, driving The Department of Wildlife Protection, J&K Govt. has under the influence of liquor/drugs, use of mobile phones, placed sign boards on the road sides with the messages not using helmets/safety belts, jumping red lights, wrong "you are passing through wildlife areas, drive slowly". We crossing, over loading etc. The moment there is any road must drive slowly and carefully in wildlife/forest areas, accident in any part of the state, it gets flashed in the local the speed limit should not be more than 20 km per hour. social media, mostly through What's App as it involves the And in certain cases the night traffic on the highways life of a human being and every effort is made to reach to the passing through the protected areas/ national parks have administration or any other help for the rescue of the been banned, like the ban on night traffic on National injured. Highway 766 passing through the Bandipur National The life of a human being cannot be compared to any Park. The other option could be to have speed breakers other living being on this planet, but there are other living after every 100 metres on the roads passing through beings also, who are the silent victims of these traffic col- Protected Areas/forests so that the drivers will not get a lisions, "the wild animals", which gets killed on the road chance to overspeed and accidents can be avoided. and are categorised as "Road Kills". Canadian writer Timothy Findley, wrote about the The rapid expansion of roads and highways through experience of seeing killed animals on highways during Forest Areas or Protected Areas, is one of the most serious travels: "The dead by the road, or on it, testify to the pres- threats to the wildlife today. The road kills have been ence of man. Their little gestures of pain-paws, wings and recorded almost from every state of the country and not Excelsior/Rakesh tails-are the saddest, the loneliest, most forlorn postures necessarily within the Protected Areas/Forests, as the wild of the dead I can imagine. When we have stopped killing animals do not recognise these administratively created snakes, monitor lizards; frogs and toads; birds mostly blue decoys masquerading as snakes and turtles. "Indeed, sev- animals as though they were so much refuse, we will stop boundaries. More so, the animals don't recognise road as a rock pigeons, mynas; mammals like monkeys, civets, neel- eral drivers were observed speeding up and positioning killing one another. But the highways show our indiffer- hazard. In our state, roads do pass through the forests and gai, sambar, jackals, hares and to an extent the Leopards, their vehicles to hit the reptiles". Male drivers hit the rep- ence to death, so long as it is someone else's. It is an atti- even through the Protected Areas like the Jammu- have been killed in these traffic collisions in Jammu and tile decoys more often than female drivers. On a more tude of the human mind I do not grasp. Udhampur Road passes through two Wildlife Sanctuaries Kashmir. The feeding of monkeys along the national high- compassionate note, 3.4% of male drivers and 3% of According to Sh. Suresh Kumar Gupta IFS (Chief i.e. Ramnagar Wildlife Sanctuary and the Nandini Wildlife ways by the public especially on Tuesday female drivers stopped to rescue the rep- Wildlife Warden, J&K), we humans share our world with Sanctuary, road from Surinsar to Mansar passes through also results in injury or even death because tile decoys. other creatures and have more cognitive abilities than any the Surinsar-Mansar Wildlife Sanctuary and the Mughal WILDLIFE WEEK of vehicular hit. However, in our society, most of us other living beings, therefore it becomes our prime road passes through the Heerpora Wildlife Sanctuary. At least, in our country, nobody will kill might have heard that if a snake is acci- responsibility to drive carefully and avoid such accidents Although, these roads are the lifeline of a nation and nec- OCT 2-OCT 8 a wild animal intentionally by his/her dentally killed by somebody in a road acci- which results in deaths of these wild animals. Even the essary for the development but equally pose threat to the speedy vehicle, such collisions are mostly dent, he/she is then advised to get a wildlife. These roads cut through continuous forest, frag- honourable Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, while accidental but avoidable. However, a study in Ontario, small/symbolic snake be made in silver by goldsmith and featuring in the Man Vs Wild programme with Bear Grylls menting them into patches. The wild animals have to cross Canada in 1996 found many reptile killed on portions of be donated in a Nag temple after some purifying and expi- these man-made roads in search of food, mates and other have stressed on the importance of conservation of the the road where vehicle tyres do not usually pass over, atory rituals. It means that we do not intentionally hit the wild fauna and flora of the country. Therefore, it is our resources, like water and shelter. It is when, these wild which led to the inference that some drivers intentionally animals but accidentally the animal gets hurt or killed. fauna (animals) are hit by the speedy vehicles, the insects duty to preserve our natural heritage or this will be lost for- run over reptiles. To verify this hypothesis, research in In India,(PATH) 'Provide Animals safe Transit on ever and one of the reason will be our negligent driving. (moths, butterflies, scorpions etc); crawling reptiles like 2007 found that 2.7% of drivers intentionally hit reptile Highways' was initiated by Environment Conservation The author is Assistant Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) History of Railways in J&K Y R Gupta Jammu. This project will be remembered forever as it is one of the few such projects in the world history when The Railway line in Jammu region was an extension work did not stop even during the Indo-Pak war of 1971. of NWR from Suchetgarh of the Sialkot District to the A galaxy of VIPs from the Centre and the State were Jammu city. The work on this Railway line commenced present to witness this historic event when Jammu was in October 1888 and the line was declared open for traf- brought on the Railway map once again after a gap of 25 fic on 13th March, 1890. It was about 17 miles in length years. The station became pilgrim place for the rural as and was purchased by the State Government from the well as for the urban folks. It was Srinagar express (now Dharamarth Department for a sum of Rs. 11, 78,078. Jhelum express) which departed from New Delhi on This link, however, was disrupted in 1947 as a result of 1stDecember, 1972 and arrived Jammu Tawi on 2nd division of the Country. December, 1972. Om Mehta, Minister of State for Earlier in 1902, the Maharaja Sir PRATAP SINGH got Transport and Parliamentary Affairs and Mohd. Shaffi the survey done via three different routes i.e. Qureshi Dy. Minister of Railways was the Chief Guest on Abbottabad to Srinagar, Jammu to Srinagar via two dif- this train which was decorated like a bride. A memorable ferent routes through Banihal for a Narrow Gauge function was also arranged by the State Government Railway line and another survey for Electric Railway which was presided over by A. G Lone, the then Minister from Jammu to Srinagar via Banihal but the construc- for Tourism in which awards were also presented to the tion could not be started not only due to financial con- Railway men for their outstanding performance. Besides straints but also due to formal sanction of the project this train, other 3 trains that is Kashmir Train (now from Government Of India. The financial aspect could Jammu Mail),Sealdah Express and one Passenger Train have been very much met with the exploration of Coal (Jammu-Pathankot) were introduced and started run- Fields in Ladda area, a distance of 30 miles from Tikri ning from this day. The number of trains gradually where at least 2,500,000 tons coal was available. As to increased, the first being Bombay- Jammu Tawi super- why these Coal Fields were not explored even after the fast on 24th December, 1976 which was flagged off by Railway Projects were abandoned is not known. Mohd. ShaffiQureshi. At present the Jammu station is first passenger carrying train(DMU). Beside the Prime A brief history of World,Indian Railways After 1947, the first step to link Jammu with the rest connected with every corner of India, and a number of of the Country was taken by providing strategic Rail con- Minister there were other central ministers namely The Railways was England's gift to the world as the trains are running from the station including prestigious Sachchidanand Gaura the Minister of Railways, Dr. nection with the extension of Jalandhar - Mukerian Rajdhani Express. first railway was opened in 1805 in England which branch line to Pathankot. Work on the 44kms line was Jitender Singh ( son of the soil) Minister of State in the With a view to provide an alternative and a reliable extended from Wordsworth to Carrydon a distance of started in November 1949 and formally opened to Rail PMO and also Hon'ble Governor of J & K and other State 14.5 km. The horses were used as means of traction. transportation system to Jammu & Kashmir , Govt. of traffic on 7th April, 1952. Further Rail head was dignitaries and also Top Railway Officials accompanied The first train in the world to be hauled by a steam India planned a 326 Kms long Railway Line beyond advanced from Pathankot to Madhopur and then up to by S.Kaul Chief Administrative Officer of this project locomotive ran from Stouston to Darlington on 27th Jammu joining the Kashmir Valley with the Indian Kathua in 1966 which is 6 kms inside the State. It was who was once associated in the early days of the con- September, 1825. However it was in 1830 that the Railway Network. The project which passes through the just a symbolic stretch. Yet the State could not fully enjoy struction of Jammu-Udhampur Section. Perhaps Railway era as we know today started when the the Rail system badly needed for the overall economic Himalayas has been declared as a project of National Vaishno Mata was waiting for the right man for the job Liverpool and Manchester Railway was opened. development of the State. Importance. who thus appears on the scene in the shape of Narendra The events leading to India's first rail journey are The real and serious efforts were made to bring Further extension up to Udhampur was also taken in Modi the Prime Minister. no less historic. The first railway line in India extend- Railway line deep into the State in 1969 when a new proj- hand in 1981 but foundation stone for the same was for- The opening of the section will enable the thousands ing over a length of 34 kms from Bombay to Thanne ect to extend line beyond Kathua up to Jammu was pre- mally laid by the then PM Indira Gandhi on 14th April, and thousands of Mata's devotees to reach the base camp was opened for public traffic on 16th April 1853. On pared. This project was a challenging job and was com- 1983. The construction however started in 1995 and Katra direct from all over the country. Though only few eastern side, Howrah to Hooghly a distance of 37km pleted within a short span of 3 years and the section Jammu-Udhampur Station was opened on 13th April, trains are scheduled to run at present, maximum facili- was opened on 15th August, 1854. Kathua- - Jammu was opened for goods traffic on 2nd 2005. It was in 1997 that survey beyond Udhampur up to ties to handle a large number of trains, besides amenities The journey that began on 16th April, 1853 has been October, 1972 and subsequently passenger traffic when Srinagar was conducted. This section is full of long tun- for the passengers have been provided at the station and a truly rewarding one, marked with memorable mile- inauguration ceremony was made by T.A Pai Minister of nels and high bridges including the one of the tallest in as such within a short period the station is likely to be stones, remarkable achievements and path-breaking Railways. Besides the minster of railways, there were the world over river Chenab. The construction beyond connected with all the corners of the country in a innovations. other central ministers namely Dr Karan Singh minister Katra up to Banihal is in progress. planned and phased manner. 1)-1866- Calcutta linked with Delhi, Amritsar and of Civil Aviation and Tourism, Om Mehta Minister of As regards Kashmir valley the trains are running The section Udhampur-Katra a distance of 25 Bombay State for Transport and Parliamentary affairs, Mohd. between Banihal and Baramulla after crossing one of the Kilometers have a unique scenic beauty besides having 2)-Bombay linked with Madras and Cochin Shafi Qureshi Dy Minister Railways. There was also the longest tunnels in the World. It is a point to be men- as many as 38 bridges and 7 tunnels of sixteen kilome- 3)- 1969- First Rajdhani Express introduced between ministers from J&K state Tirlochan Dutt and Randhir tioned that rail coaches were carried to the valley on spe- ters length or to say that 64% of the section is tunneled New Delhi - Howrah Singh.The chairman Railway board, Member Staff and cially designed vehicles. (1)- 11.10.2008 Anantnag to ,a longest one being of a little more than 3 Kilometers in 4)-1988-Introduction of first metro rail in Calcutta financial Commissioner railways were also present Mazhom (2) - 14.02.2009 Mazhom to Baramulla (3) - length. 5)-First Shatabdi Train introduced between New beside local M.Ps and MLAs.The main function at 28.10.2009 Quazigund to Anantnag (4) 26.06.2013 The construction works beyond Katra up to Banihal is Delhi - Jhansi Jammu was presided over by Mir Qasim Chief minister Quazigund to Banihal at present in full swing with the laying of foundation 6)-2002- Introduction of Jan- Shatabdi Trains. of J&K. The messages of greeting sent for the occasion by The Date was 4th July 2014,when after missing sever- stone at the Chenab Bridge by the Railway Minister and And when the project completes and trains start the President of India, The prime Minister of India al deadlines the final auspicious day arrived when the section is likely to be completed by the middle of running from the valley to different parts of the coun- Minister of planning and Development and Governor of Narendra Modi Prime Minister, a, poise, devotee of 2019. The opening of this section will be A Red Letter try - it will be a memorable event in the Railway histo- J&K were also read out. Vaishno Mata and above all the one dedicated to the Day in the history of Indian Railways when trains will ry. We are eagerly waiting for that auspicious First passenger carrying train Srinagar Express service of Bharat Mata and her children inaugurated the start running from Kanya Kumai to Kashmir (up to moment to arrive. (Now Jehlum Express) was received ceremoniously at Opening of Udhampur-Katra Line ,with flagging off of Baramulla). (The author is Station Supdt. (Retd)