GUWAHATI: The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) won the best innovation award in Indian Railways for the 2018-19 fiscal year on Tuesday, July 9 for creating Plan Bee, an amplifying system that imitates the buzz of a swarm of honey bees to keep wild elephants away from railway tracks.
As part of the award, NFR got a citation along with a cash award of Rs. 3 lakh.
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It should be noted that from 2013 until June 2019, 67 pachyderms were knocked down by trains and most cases were reported from Assam and northern West Bengal.
There are 29 earmarked elephant corridors in the operating zone of NFR that is spread across all northeastern states and parts of Bihar and West Bengal and it is mandatory for all trains to slow down at these corridors and follow the specified speed limits listed on sign boards.
The NFR’s Rangiya Division and Forest Department field officials worked on this project and came up with the ‘Plan Bee’ system. This system, generated the amplified sound of honey bees audible from 700-800 metres.
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The first instrument was installed at a level crossing west of Guwahati and now, NFR has installed 46 such devices at vulnerable points.
NFR officials have mentioned that Plan Bee and some other measures have helped save 1,014 elephants from 2014 to June 2019.
(Inputs The Hindu)