Kaziranga (Assam) : Authorities in Assam Thursday enforced traffic speed regulations on a highway along the Kaziranga National Park to prevent vehicles from hitting animals fleeing the sanctuary to escape the floods.
Officials said the order prohibiting people from driving their vehicles above a speed limit of 40 km per hour along the national highway that surrounds the Kaziranga National Park in eastern Assam was enforced because scores of wild animals have started moving to highlands as the sanctuary is getting flooded.
"We have placed police and forest guards along the highway to restrict drivers from increasing their speed beyond a limit as animals from the park are crossing the highway," P.K. Talukdar, a magistrate, said.
In 2004, speeding trucks mowed down at least 50 animals while they were trying to cross the highway to escape floods.
In the past one-week, flash floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains have displaced at least 200,000 people in Assam. The Brahmaputra river has been flowing above the danger level in at least 11 different places in the state.
"Floodwaters have entered some fringe areas inside the park. Already small herds of elephants have started moving out of the park by crossing the highway to take shelter in an adjoining hill," Dharanidhar Boro, a park ranger, told IANS.
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