The NBWL has granted permission to divert forest from the sanctuary for the widening of National Highway-12 from its the current two-lane to four-lane, according to minutes of NBWL meeting.
After paving the way for the Ken-Betwa river linking project inside Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR), the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has now permitted the diversion of 40 hectares of forest from Nauradehi wildlife sanctuary, which is to be added as part of PTR in lieu of loss of core forest land.
The NBWL has granted permission to divert forest from the sanctuary for the widening of National Highway-12 from its the current two-lane to four-lane, according to minutes of NBWL meeting.
Ironically, even as the project falls inside the sanctuary, during the meeting, the Chief wildlife Warden of Madhya Pradesh Jitendra Agarwal said that the area does not form part of any corridor and is located south of Nauradehi sanctuary. The NBWL cleared the project, "considering the utility of the widening in decongesting the traffic flow."
At its previous meeting in January, Agarwal had prescribed mitigation measures such as animal underpasses, chain-link fencing, artificial water bodies and other conditions. The NBWL had also sought comments of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), since the sanctuary is going to be a part of PTR.
It was the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, that had first suggested that four wildlife sanctuaries, two each from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, should be added to the Panna Tiger Reserve, to compensate for the vast forest that will be submerged under the river linking project.
While granting wildlife clearance, the NBWL accepted this proposal to add Nauradehi, Rani Durgavati and Ranipur and Mahavir Swami wildlife sanctuaries to Panna.
Besides clearing the highway widening project, the NBWL is also considering a stone mining project six km away from the Panna Tiger Reserve.
Independent member of NBWL R Sukumar said that no mining should be permitted in the additional area to be added to Panna Tiger Reserve in lieu of the core area to be diverted for Ken-Betwa river linking project.
NTCA also pointed out that the mine location has not been ascertained yet. The board has now asked NTCA and Wildlife Institute of India to the verify location of the mine and submit a report in a month's time.
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