National Green Tribunal
People For Cattle In India(Pfci) Rep.By ... vs Additional Principal Chief ... on 15 March, 2022
Bench: K. Ramakrishnan, Satyagopal Korlapati
Item No.16:-
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
SOUTHERN ZONE, CHENNAI
(Through Video Conference)
Original Application No. 157 of 2020 (SZ)
IN THE MATTER OF:
People for Cattle in India (PFCI)
Represented by its Founder
Mr. G. Arun Prasanna
Office at 8/22, Ragaviah Road,
T. Nagar, Chennai.
...Applicant(s)
Versus
Additional Principle Chief Conservator of Forests,
Coimbatore Circle,
Kurinji, Mettupalayam Road,
Coimbatore and Ors.
...Respondent(s)
Date of hearing: 15.03.2022.
CORAM:
HON'BLE Mr. JUSTICE K. RAMAKRISHNAN, JUDICIAL MEMBER
HON'BLE Dr. SATYAGOPAL KORLAPATI, EXPERT MEMBER
For Applicant(s): Mr. Kaushik N Sharma.
For Respondent(s): Dr. D. Shanmuganathan for R1 to R3, R6 & R7.
Mr. G.M. Syed Nurullah Sheriff for R4 & R5.
Mr. K. Muthamil Raja for R8 to R11.
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ORDER
1. As per order dated 24.02.2022, this Tribunal had considered the report submitted by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests dated 10.02.2022, e-filed on 11.02.2022 and extracted in Para (4) of the order and also considered the affidavit submitted by the Southern Railways dated Nil, e-filed on 24.02.2022 and extracted in Para (5) of the order and then, passed the following order:-
"6. Learned Counsel appearing for the applicant wanted some time to file their suggestions. Considering the circumstances, we feel that some more time can be granted to the applicant to come with their suggestions and also objections, if any, to the report filed by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Southern Railways as directed by this Tribunal.
7. They are directed to file their suggestions and objections, if any, to the report of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Southern Railways on or before 11.03.2022 and get ready with the matter on 15.03.2022."
2. Thereafter, the case was posted to today for filing objections (if any) to the report, consideration of report and also for hearing.
3. Today, we have received an affidavit submitted by the Divisional Railway Manager, Works Branch, Southern Railways, Palakkad Division dated 11.03.2022, e-filed on 12.03.2022 which reads as follows:-
"AFFIDAVIT I, Jatin Kumar, S/o Shri Chander Sain, Hindu aged about 30 years working as Divisional Engineer/East in the office of Divisional Railway Manager, Works Branch, Southern Railway, Palakkad Division, Palakkad - 678 002 do hereby solemnly affirm and sincerely states as follows:Page 2 of 6
1. I am the Respondent herein and I am authorised to file this report on behalf of Respondents 8 to 11 since i am well acquainted with the facts of the case.
2. l humbly submit that as per the direction of this Hon'ble Tribunal the following action plan is taken by Railway to prevent elephant deaths due to hitting of trains in ghat section of Southern Railway, Palakkad division.
Intrusion Deduction system:
This system has been planned on trial basis in Alipurdwar division of Northeast Frontier Railway. The work is now under tender finalization stage for a cost of Rs 2.56 crore. The work consists of supply, installation and commissioning of Remote DAS unit along with communication interface to monitor elephant movement/train tracking/ Asset Monitoring on Railway Track for the distance of 30 km consisting of optical unit to cover both side of equipment. The scope of work also consists of supply installation and commissioning of Central DAS server along with Geo Location application server and interface unit at nearest Level Crossing gate. Palakkad division of Southern Railway is in close coordination with North Frontier railway and planning to introduce in this location based on the trial conducted after commissioning in North Frontier railway. The functioning of this system is based on the Distributed Acoustic Sensitising system. The working principle of the work is as below:
• OFC Distributed Acoustics Sensing based on Rayleigh scattering phenomenon.
•Real time monitoring via one single core of a fiber optic cable. •Laser pulses from Remote OFC DAS unit will be sent continuously and reflected pulses will be received from various points along the fiber cable and analyzed •Vibration / external sound waves hitting the OFC cable cause changes in the reflected pulses • Reference signature is captured for on ideal condition when there is no external vibration •In case of elephant intrusion, signature is captured for classification and analysis •Real-time trace are compared with reference signature, analysis is done and then alarm is generated Page 3 of 6 • One unit can monitor 40 km to 60km of track depending upon the health of OFC • Remote OFC DAS unit shall be connected to central server over Ethernet Link (IP / 4G ) • OFC Route Survey shall be done with GPS for localization of event.
The system shall detect and locate moving elephants up to 5m from the fibre optical cable. The objective of the system shall be to identify elephant movement close to track in advance and convey the information to the nearest manned control which can be either the nearest level crossing gate or the Station. With the receiving of movement or elephant with its geo location, the same can be conveyed to the loco pilot of the next train before its departure from the signal of the nearest Level crossing gate or Station home signal to observe special restricted speed cautions or to stop and proceed the train at the identified elephant crossing locations after careful observations. The same can also be used to plan train movement in advance in either B or A line as per the feasibility. The system will also be modeled to examine and analyze the train speed running in the particular location. The information received shall be further shared to the Forest control room also in advance to take appropriate action. Southern Railways Palghat Division has already laid optical fibres on the sides of the track for the purpose of signal communication. The work shall be implemented as soon as the railway is commissioned after its successful trial.
Southern Railways Palghat Division has already laid optical fibres on the sides of the track for the purpose of signal communication. The work shall be implemented as soon as the work in NER railway is commissioned after its successful trial.
Audio alarm system:
An audio alarm system has been developed by signal department of Southern Railway which was commissioned on 28.12.21 at KM 513/800-900 "B" line at unnamed locations and directly controlled by nearest station to give honey bee/tiger roaring sounds to ward away elephant entering the vulnerable area. This system is solar powered and function automatically after sunset till sunrise. Effective functioning of this alarm system is being Page 4 of 6 monitored and shall be installed in other locations depending on its efficiency with any modification if required.
LIDAR Technology Railway is in consultation with Pramura software Pvt. Ltd., to develop modern Technological solutions to give prior warning to Loco drivers regarding elephant movement near to the Railway track. The preliminary discussion was held through online video conferencing on 13.01.2022 to discuss the problem at hand and the requirements of Railway to get feasible solutions which can be based on either LIDAR technology equipped with thermal or infra-red sensors to sense and further communicate to the nearest Station Masters.
3. It is therefore prayed that this Hon'ble Tribunal may be pleased to record this report and pass suitable orders thus render Justice."
4. Here also they have not mentioned anything about the timeline within which the new technology of alerting the pilots as mentioned by them in the affidavit will be implemented.
5. When this was pointed out, the learned counsel wanted some time to file the further report in this regard.
6. The Southern Railways is directed to file the timeline within which the new technology of alerting the pilots as mentioned by them in the affidavit referred to above will be implemented and the applicant is also directed to file their suggestions, so that this Tribunal can consider all those aspects and dispose of the case by giving necessary directions to resolve the issue permanently.Page 5 of 6
7. The applicant as well as the Southern Railways are directed to file their suggestions as well as further report respectively on or before 29.03.2022 by e-filing by e-filing in the form of Searchable PDF/OCR Supportable PDF and not in the form of Image PDF along with necessary hardcopies to be produced as per Rules and parties are directed to get ready with the matter on 31.03.2022 for hearing.
8. The Registry is directed to communicate this order to the official respondents including the Southern Railways by e-mail for their information and compliance of directions.
9. For consideration of further report and hearing, post on 31.03.2022.
Sd/-
Justice K. Ramakrishnan, JM Sd/-
Dr. Satyagopal Korlapati, EM O.A.No.157/2020 (SZ), 15th March 2022. Mn.
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