Panel raps Assam over illegal constructions

GUWAHATI: The Assam government is not making sufficient efforts in protecting nine wildlife corridors in and around the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve, a central empowered committee constituted by the Supreme Court has said.

In a meeting held on March 4 with Assam officials led by chief secretary Jishnu Barua, the committee directed the state government to speed up demolition of illegal structures in these corridors to safeguard the passage of wild animals. The details of the meeting were released on March 10. On March 11, an elephant was electrocuted after touching a transformer on one of these corridors.

In April 2019, the apex court banned construction on private land in the corridors. Subsequent studies, however, have detected 22 structures built illegally, of which only one has been removed so far. The structures include a government guest house, a liquor store, six parking lots, five resorts, residential buildings, a function hall, two restaurants, a cafe and a hotel.

Although nine animal corridors have been identified, the state government was yet to draw their boundaries spread over a total length of 44.2km, a prerequisite for implementing the top court’s April 2019 order, the committee said. The nine designated animal corridors, which are spread across Nagaon, Golaghat and Karbi Anglong East districts, fall along NH-37 that passes through KNPTR. During annual flooding of KNPTR every monsoon, wild animals from the park cross the highway and move towards the hills. It is during their attempts to cross the highway through the corridors when several animals are hit by vehicles.

“The long ranging animals traditionally follow the same route for movement from one landscape to another,” the expert panel said. “Therefore, blocking these routes and providing any other alternative corridors will not achieve the objectives.”

The state should relocate the existing eateries, parking lots and other structures, and acquire land on either side of the national highway close to the national park, the committee suggested.

The panel expressed surprise that instead of accepting a report on delineation of the corridors prepared by a committee constituted by Assam government in 2019, the state reconstituted the panel and included two ministers, both of whom are elected from areas close to Kaziranga. “The necessity for reconstituting the committee is not understood especially as the mandate of the (earlier) committee was not to identify the corridor, but to delineate the boundaries of the nine identified corridors...,” it observed.

“The observations of CEC have made it clear that Chief Wildlife Warden, Assam was protecting the illegal constructions on the animal corridor by giving the misleading report to CEC, until the Integrated Regional Office of MOEFCC submitted the factual status of the violation to CEC,” said environment activist Rohit Choudhury based on whose plea the SC had issued the April, 2019 order.