Jagjit Singh raises elephant deaths with Mamata
April 20th, 2011 - 8:17 pm ICT by IANS
Mumbai, April 20 (IANS) Ghazal singer Jagjit Singh Wednesday appealed to Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee to look seriously into the killings of elephants by speeding trains.
“When I learnt from my friends at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India that elephants are being hit and killed by trains on our railways, I was appalled,” Singh said in a letter he wrote to the minister.
He noted that there has to be a strict speed limit in areas where elephants are common. “It is difficult to understand why elephants continue to die when there are ways to solve this problem,” the ghazal singer said.
“A speed detection device, which PETA has procured and demonstrated, offers an effective, simple way to slow down trains,” the letter said.
Collisions between trains and elephants occur with staggering regularity, and there is a 100 percent mortality rate for the elephants who are directly hit.
“Deaths due to train-hits are considered a key threat to Indian elephants. PETA and Singh assert that for elephants to survive, it is imperative that train speeds be drastically reduced,” said a PETA official.
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