The foresters try to drive the herd into Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary on Sunday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

Siliguri, June 23: Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will ask the Centre to approach Nepal government on elephant deaths and the vulnerability of the animals in the Himalayan country.

Following the deaths of two elephants — one was electrocuted, while another had fallen to bullets — along the Indo-Nepal border in the past one week, foresters and wildlife conservationists have insisted on holding talks with the neighbouring nation to save the pachyderms.

“We felt the urgency of bringing the matter to the Centre’s attention as pachyderms are becoming more vulnerable at the end point of the elephant corridor in Mechi, Nepal,” Bengal forest minister Ananta Roy said over phone today.

“The chief minister himself will take up the matter at appropriate levels at the Centre. The forest department will provide Bhattacharjee with all relevant information,” said Roy.

Foresters are doing whatever they can to stop elephants from entering Nepal and steer them towards Lohagarh and Bamanpokhri leading to Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary.

“We have brought four trained elephants — two each from Gorumara National Park and Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary — to guide the 50-odd pachyderms to Lohagarh,” said Sumita Ghatak, the divisional forest officer (wildlife-1). The trained pachyderms penetrate the herd and show it the way to Mahananda.

Ghatak said the guards were also using crackers and vehicles to drive the herd to Lohagarh.

“Vehicles were laid across in some areas so that the elephants did not deviate from the route. Crackers were also burst to ensure that the herd travelled on the right path to Lohagarh,” said Kanchan Banerjee, the range officer of Sukna Wildlife Squad.

Banerjee said although so many measures were taken to herd the elephants to Lohagarh, they tried to trudge back in places like Kalabari.

Members of Biodiversity Conservation Society, an NGO based in Nepal, have also participated in the operation.