HC stays de-notification of elephant reserve

THE SHIVALIK ELEPHANT RESERVE IS SPREAD OVER 5,405 SQUARE KILOMETRES IN EIGHTS DISTRICTS OF UTTARAKHAND

DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand’s high court on Friday stayed approval given by the state wildlife advisory board for de-notification of the Shivalik elephant reserve to make way for the expansion of the Dehradun airport. The court sought replies from the state government, the Centre, state biodiversity board and the state wildlife board on the matter.

A division bench of chief justice RS Chauhan and justice Lok Pal Singh issued these directions while hearing a PIL filed by Dehradun-based activist Reenu Paul.

Abhijit Negi, counsel for the petitioner, said the PIL pointed out that the Supreme Court, “in a recent decision delivered by a three-judge bench led by the Chief Justice of India on October 14, 2020 had passed several guidelines for elephant conservation and the decision of the Uttarakhand state wildlife board was in the teeth of the said decision of the apex court.”

Citing provisions of the Biological Diversity Act 2002 and the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, Negi argued “it was not open to the state wildlife board to de-notify the Shivalik elephant reserve in such a summary manner without assessing the ecological catastrophe that it can push the state and the entire region into”.

The elephant reserve is spread over 5,405 square kilometres in eights districts of Uttarakhand.

When the decision was taken on November 24, Uttarakhand’s forest minister Harak Singh Rawat said the state wildlife board had approved the de-notification of the Shivalik elephant reserve because “there is no law to define an elephant reserve.”

In October, the ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC) had written to the state government, saying the state government “may explore alternatives for the proposal such as acquiring area lying north of the existing runway.”

“...The state government should consider avoiding these sensitive areas and explore alternative lands,” the ministry wrote.

In November, responding to MoECC’s letter, the state government said alternative land will not serve the purpose because the existing runway needs to be expanded.

With alternative land, a completely new airport will have to be built, it argued.

“This decision by the high court is a happy decision as elephant corridors need to be protected. Even a few decades ago, elephants used to move from Rajaji landscape till Corbett using these corridors but over time, these corridors have been encroached upon...,” said Ajay Singh Rawat, an Uttarakhand-based environmentalist.