Atiq Khan LUCKNOW: The death of a tiger on the railway track near Manjha Purbi halt on the Mailani-Gonda rail section in Katerniaghat Wildlife Division in Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh this past Friday has evoked a strong reaction from the State Government. Apart from FIRs being lodged against the driver and guard of the train and the Assistant Station Master of Manjha Purbi railway station by the State Forest Department, the Government is insisting that the Union Railway Ministry remove the railway line from the entire stretch of Dudhwa National Park and Katerniaghat Wildlife Division. The issue threatens to snowball into a major point of contention between the UP Government and the Union Railway Ministry considering that the matter of the railway line and the speed of the trains thereon has been hanging fire since the 1990s. Starting from Mailani Junction in Lakhimpur Kheri district till it reaches Gonda, the rail track -- which cuts across the National Park and Katerniaghat -- is about 200 km long.The tiger was killed this past weekend by the 194 Down Mailani-Gonda Passenger. According to forest officials, the train was moving at a speed of 55 km per hour at the time as against the permissible speed of 15 km an hour in the sensitive area of the forest. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden (UP) B.K. Patnaik said the speed of the trains has to be closely monitored by the Railway authorities till the railway line is removed from the forest area. Mr. Patnaik, who visited the scene of accident on Monday, told The Hindu the fact that the tiger was dragged for about 800 metres suggested that the train might have been moving at a speed beyond the permissible limit.