After an Asiatic lion was run over by a passenger train near Lilia in Gujarat’s Amreli district late on the night of July 24, the forest department has suspended forest officer Mahesh Khavadiya of Lilia range for his alleged negligence leading to the casualty on the railway track.
Aradhna Sahu, chief conservator of forests (CCF) of Junagadh wildlife circle, issued an order to suspend Khavadiya on July 25 for allegedly not alerting either the railway station master or Lilia forest officers to the “presence of wild animals near the track”.
The CCF said that Khavadiya’s negligence led to the Mahuva-Surat train killing the lion at Bhensan village near Lilia, in the Lilia range of Shetrunji wildlife division of the Junagadh wildlife circle.
The order stated that a movement of a pride of lions was “reported” in the area at 8.56 pm on Wednesday, but the formal observation was only registered at 1.26 am on Thursday, more than two hours after the lion was run over at around 10.40 pm.
Stating that the CCF did a spot visit on Friday after the incident and spoke to Khavadiya, the order read, “When asked about monitoring of duty and attendance of (railway) trackers, he could not give a satisfactory answer. Nor could he give a satisfactory answer when asked what efforts he had made to prevent such incidents.” It added that he also failed to file “satisfactory” details of his patrolling routines and field inspections.
“When asked about monitoring of duty and attendance of (railway) trackers, he could not give a satisfactory answer. Nor could he give a satisfactory answer when asked as to what efforts he had made to prevent such incidents,” states the order, adding he also failed to file satisfactory details of his patrolling routines and field inspections.
“It appears that enough efforts were not made to prevent accidents involving wild animal lions on railway tracks. This entire incident proves his negligence in protection of the lion, a wild animal of Schedule-I (of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972),” the CCF concluded.
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