A lawyer told the Gujarat High Court on Thursday that an elevated rail corridor was the best solution to save lions from getting run over by trains passing close to the Gir Wildlife Sanctuary.
Taking into consideration various other suggestions, a bench of justices SR Brahmbhatt and AG Uraizee ordered the formation of a committee to identify the problems and bottlenecks in the way of conservation of lions in the sanctuary. The Bench was suo motu (on its own) hearing a public interest litigation (PIL), which was admitted by the court in March last year, over the issue of high death rate of lions in Gir due to various reasons like train and road accidents, falling into wells and electrocution.
During the Thursday hearing, advocate Anand Yagnik, who does not represent any party in the case but was allowed by the court to share his views on the issue, told the bench that the maximum number of lions were getting killed after being run over by trains.
He said the big cats could be saved from being hit by trains if the railway tracks were laid on an elevated corridor, like the metro tracks or those of the upcoming bullet train project.
Yagnik added that such elevated corridors were built in three major national parks — Jim Corbett (Uttarakhand), Sundarbans (West Bengal) and Kanha (Madhya Pradesh) — to save the wildlife from being run over by trains.