Man booked for running over elephant in Bengaluru

The pachyderm was found dead on Sunday just 100 metres away from the accident spot, located on the road connecting Bannerghatta National Park and Savanadurga, the official said.

A BMTC bus driver was booked for running over an elephant in southern Bengaluru, a forest department official said.

The elephant was crossing Kanakapura Road near Kaggalipura when the BMTC bus struck it. (AFP File)

The elephant, aged about 25 years, died after it was hit by the BMTC bus on Kanakapura Road (NH 209) near Devika Rani Roerich Estate on Friday night. The pachyderm was found dead on Sunday just 100 metres away from the accident spot, located on the road connecting Bannerghatta National Park and Savanadurga, the official said.

The elephant was crossing Kanakapura Road near Kaggalipura when the BMTC bus struck it. The bus was on its way from KR Market to Bettahalli Kaval near Kaggalipura. The elephant started bleeding profusely but managed to walk into the forest where it died later.

The front portion of the bus was damaged in the accident. The driver suffered minor injuries and the passengers were unhurt. The forest department booked the driver and seized the bus, the official said.

Forest officials launched a search operation for the wild elephant on Saturday and eventually found him lying dead a few hundred metres into the bushy forest in Kaggalipura. The pachyderm was found in a thorny bushy forested area, making its detection a herculean task.

“The elephant is a male of around 25 years. He is probably from Bannerghatta and has probably got separated from the herd. It is normal for elephants to cross this corridor through the Roerich Estate and go towards the UM Kaval Forest. After the accident, the elephant walked into the forest and died a few hours later late on Friday night,” said deputy conservator of forests Ravishankar.

Meanwhile, Union minister for environment, forest and climate change Bhupender Yadav on Tuesday said three elephants have died in Karnataka after being hit by trains between 2018 and 2021. “A permanent coordination committee has been constituted between the ministry of railways and ministry of environment, forest and climate change for preventing elephant deaths in train accidents. Imposition of permanent and temporary speed restrictions in identified elephant corridors and habitats was done…,” he told the Lok Sabha.

Yadav also told the Lok Sabha that under the Central Sponsored Scheme (CSS) of Project Elephant, aimed at protecting elephants and reducing man-animal conflict, Karnataka received ₹4.12 crore in 2019-2020 and ₹3.30 crore in 2020-2021.

He added that construction of underpasses and ramps for the movement of elephants at identified locations, provision of fencing at selected locations, and signage board to warn loco pilots about identified elephant corridors will be undertaken. “…sensitisation of train crew and station masters to avoid train collisions with elephants, need-based clearance of vegetation on the sides of tracks within railway land, deputing forest department staff in railway control offices to liaise with the railways and engagement of elephant trackers by the forest department for timely action by alerting station masters and loco pilots will be implemented,” he added.