The mitigation measures are put in place to prevent injuries and fatalities of wild animals that move across the highway. Kanha national park and Pench tiger reserve situated in Central India are considered one of the best tiger habitats.
In yet another instance of dilution of measures proposed to mitigate environmental impact under NDA, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has done a volte face, expressing its opposition to building underpasses and an elevated stretch of NH-7 to facilitate movement of animals in the Pench-Kanha tiger habitat. The widening of NH-7 from two lanes to four lanes - on the Seoni-Khawasa (MP – Maharashtra) border section – requires 4.49 hectares of forest land from Pench-Mowgli Sanctuary, a key tiger corridor.
This proposal was recommended by National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) in its 31st meeting last August. The NBWL had also subjected the proposal to certain mitigation measures, as suggested by Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun that included construction of a single underpass of 1km and an underground tunnel to provide access to villagers.
The mitigation measures are put in place to prevent injuries and fatalities of wild animals that move across the highway. Kanha national park and Pench tiger reserve situated in Central India are considered one of the best tiger habitats.
After accepting the mitigating measures the NHAI, in June's NBWL meeting, made a representation and said "it was not possible to construct 1km long elevated highway as stipulated by WII and the tunnel as amended by National Tiger Conservation Authority and recommended by (NBWL) Standing Committee". Officially, the NHAI has stated "topographical features of the site, confined right-of-way and need of more land", as the reasons for not executing the mitigation measures.
But, according to sources from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, WII's mitigation measures have been viewed as 'impractical' and 'costly' for the NHAI to execute. Sources added that WII's earlier suggestions to build overpasses were rejected as the project costs ballooned. For another 37-km stretch of the NH-7, the WII had proposed construction of a flyover and a long underpass, but, even those mitigation measures were diluted.
Following NHAI's volte face with regards to executing the mitigation measures, the NBWL standing committee readily agreed to review them without any objection, specific to the site conditions and feasibility of execution. The matter has to be now finalized in July with an "executable and workable plan" that will again be placed before the NBWL standing committee.
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