Construction in wildlife corridors in northeastern India forces animals out of natural habitat
by Aditi VermaRecent construction activities in wildlife corridors in northeastern India’s Assam have led to sightings of rhinos venturing beyond their natural jungle habitats, raising alarms about the disturbance caused to their ecosystem.
The incident took place at National Highway-37 of Kaziranga National Park in Golaghat district and the video went viral on July 6.
Visuals showed during construction in the forest area, a rhino emerged from the jungle onto the road, visibly distressed. It appeared agitated, looking around at nearby objects and intermittently running in various directions. Onlookers, fearing its reactions, cautiously filmed the scene while keeping a safe distance.
Construction activities on National Highway-37 (now NH-715) in the Kaziranga National Park & Tiger Reserve (KNPTR) have been allegedly impeding animal movement within the park during this monsoon season. These activities are in violation of the conditions set by the Standing Committee of National Board for Wildlife (NBWL), according to RTI and environment activist Rohit Choudhury, who wrote to Union forest and environment minister Bhupender Yadav, urging him to intervene and stop the ongoing construction as it may severely hamper wildlife movement towards safer locations during floods.
Choudhury claimed the state govt has permitted construction and obstruction in multiple wildlife corridors in Kaziranga. Through an RTI reply dated June 13 from the Wildlife Wing of MOEFCC, Choudhury discovered that the 78th meeting of the SCNBW, held on February 22 under the chairmanship of the Union forest minister, approved the proposal for “Widening and Improvement of Existing Carriageway to 4 Lane Configuration from Kaliabor to Numaligarh section of NH-37 (New NH- 715) in the state of Assam” subject to specific conditions. One of the conditions given to NHAI was to refrain from constructing anything on the animal corridors between June and September, the period when floods hit Assam and inundate vast parts of Kaziranga.