National Board for Wildlife approves road connecting Corbett & Rajaji reserves
4 Feb 2020
Haridwar:
After years of back and forth, work on the controversial
Laldhang-Chillarkhal road may soon get started as the National Board
for Wildlife (NBWL) has given a go-ahead to the project.
The
road, proposed to cut down travel time between Garhwal and Kumaon, will
cut through the reserve forest area of Rajaji Tiger Reserve (RTR) which
has a healthy wildlife population. The 11.5-km-long road also includes
a 4.5 km stretch from Chamaria Bend to Siggadi Sot — which is the sole
wildlife corridor between Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) and RTR, which
are the two premier sanctuaries of Uttarakhand.
In June last
year, the project had been put on hold by the Supreme Court which had
directed the state government to first get clearance from National
Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and NBWL before commencing with the
motor road project.
Subsequently, the NTCA asked Dehradun-based
Wildlife Institute of India (WII) to submit its observations on the
project. Scientists at the Tiger Cell of WII recommended a “status quo”
on the stretch between Chamaria Bend and Siggadi Sot. WII
recommendations, a copy of which is with TOI
more details
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