DNA Edit: Save the tiger - A highway through Corbett will ruin the reserve

Environmentalists have strongly objected to the Uttarakhand government’s ambitious Kandi road project that will pass through the core area of Corbett Tiger Reserve.

Now the Ministry of Environment and Forest has joined in the chorus of opposition voices and expressed its reservations about the proposed highway to the National Green Tribunal. The state government had forgotten the importance of Corbett in India’s tiger conservation efforts.

A highway cutting through the forest would not only endanger the lives of tigers but also imperil the existence of birds and other animals for whom the 1,300 square kilometres of dense forest is home. It is believed that Corbett still has the highest density of tigers.

In its affidavit to the National Green Tribunal, the National Tiger Conservation Authority has said that the project will disturb the core area. A core area in a tiger conservation project should be free of human activities. A highway is the last thing that a forest needs.

Already, mindless commercialisation of the tiger sanctuary — 70 per cent of the resorts around the park are venues for weddings, rain dances, parties, bike races that have little to do with wildlife — have ruined Corbett and now this highway project, if implemented, will be the proverbial last straw for the prestigious national park.

It is common knowledge that in habitats managed for tigers, construction of new roads should be prohibited wherever possible. Wildlife experts are of the view that protecting the integrity of the landscape is crucial to saving the tiger population. But the state government is bent on ruining it and paving the way for increasing man-animal conflict and roadkill.