Asks MoEF To Map Elephant Migration Route First, the proposal was to build flyovers on railway tracks to allow elephants safe passage. Then realization dawned that elephants may be unwilling to take flyovers, so it would be better to build underpasses at the usual routes they take. And now, efforts to save elephants from getting knocked down by trains appear to have reached war footing with SC suggesting deployment of advanced radars used by defence forces to trace and inform train drivers about presence of elephants on railway tracks. On the suggestion of petitioner Shakti Prasad Nayak’s counsel Sanjeeb Panigrahi, the court asked the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) and railways to explore the option of using Battlefield Surveillance Radar System to prevent accidents. The court on Tuesday said the task of MoEF and railways was cut out —the ministry will map the traditional migration routes of elephants and pinpoint places where they cross railway tracks to facilitate railways to construct underpasses there. A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Vikramjit Sen also proposed many options, all of which were at some point of time discussed in the court or proposed by the government, and requested solicitor general Ranjit Kumar to coordinate between them for an expeditious and coordinated response to prevent death of elephants. When the bench noticed that the SG was presenting arguments on behalf of the railways, it said, “You (the railways) are concerned only about running of trains and not bothered about wildlife.” But it took exception to MoEF’s casual approach as it found no lawyer was present to represent the ministry in an important case like this. The bench summoned the MoEF secretary and asked him to be present in the court on September 23 with an affidavit detailing the steps taken by the ministry to save elephants from being killed on train tracks. The bench said after MoEF identified the elephant migration routes and the points where it intersected the railway track, “the railways can make underpass in the identified corridors so that elephants do not stray on to tracks”. Bengal faces SC flak for sterilization plan The Supreme Court on Tuesday restrained the West Bengal government from going ahead with its reported proposal to sterilize wild elephants to reduce their numbers and, in turn, cut the number getting killed on rail tracks. Interestingly, the information about the Mamata Banerjee government's proposal was provided by counsel for Jharkhand, Tapesh Kumar Singh. A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Vikramjit Sen termed the proposal `regressive“.Singh said West Bengal has decided to introduce contraceptives for elephants to prevent their procreation and consequently, reduce their number to avoid accidents on rail tracks.