Chennai Engineer Uses RTI to Save Elephants on Railway Tracks

For years, elephants crossing railway tracks along the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border were being killed by trains. The deaths kept happening, but nobody had mapped exactly where or when the tragedies occurred.

In 2021, Dayanand Krishnan, a 52-year-old civil engineer from Chennai, decided to ask the government for answers. He filed a Right to Information request with Southern Railway asking for details on every elephant accident: location, time, and track section.

What came back was data he could actually use. Krishnan plotted the accident locations and found clear patterns showing which stretches were most dangerous, especially near water sources where elephants naturally gather.

The findings caught media attention and reached the Madras High Court, which ordered safety measures including thermal cameras and AI-based detection systems along the dangerous stretches. The technology now alerts train operators when elephants are near the tracks.

The results speak for themselves. Around 6,000 to 7,000 elephant sightings have been safely recorded on the Tamil Nadu side since the system launched.

Krishnan didn't stop with elephants. Over eight years, he's filed hundreds of successful RTI requests on everything from lake pollution to railway construction, each one uncovering information that helped solve real problems.

Now he wants every Indian to know they have this power too. The RTI Act gives any citizen the right to request information from public authorities, whether it's a municipal office, government ministry, or railway department. No lawyer needed, no explanation required—just a written application and a ten-rupee fee.

Most applications fail not because of the law, but because of how they're written. Krishnan's biggest tip: ask for existing records, not explanations. Instead of asking why a road project is delayed, request its current status, approved completion date, and progress reports.

Finding the right Public Information Officer matters too. Sending your request to the wrong department can mean weeks of delays while it gets transferred around.

The Ripple Effect

Krishnan's work shows what happens when ordinary citizens know how to access the information their government already holds. One engineer with a ten-rupee application fee helped create a detection system that's now saving elephant lives across an entire state.

The Kerala stretch still lacks the same protections—two elephants were killed there in August 2026. But the Madras High Court has called for the Tamil Nadu system to be extended, proof that one person's questions can create change that ripples across state lines.

Krishnan keeps his applications focused, usually 10 to 20 clear points per request. He mentions the relevant RTI Act sections (though it's not required by law), and he always double-checks which office actually holds the information he needs.

The system isn't perfect, but it works when used correctly—and Krishnan believes more Indians should take advantage of it.