Putting aside all controversies, the National Green Tribunal on Wednesday granted its nod to construction of a concrete wall inside the Rajaji National Park along the Song river in Uttarakhand after it was convinced that the structure would not affect movement of elephants.

The green bench made its observation following a petition made by Social Action for Forest and Environment (SAFE) seeking directions to remove the wall and restore the area to its original position and take action against violators.

The panel headed by Justice UD Salvi denied the contention that the 2 km-long wall would obstruct the elephant corridor in the national park and agreed with the submission of Wildlife Institute of India (WII) that construction of ramps on the controversial wall should be enough to assist movement of these animals.

"Elephant is an intelligent animal which has exploratory tendency and in a given circumstance has ability to find out its way, and in the present case ramps spread over 2 Km of length afford passage to the elephants to move across the wall and the river...", said the bench.

The green court further said that considering the revelations made before us by these experts in wildlife, "we all are of the view that the ramps provided can cater to the wildlife needs."

The tribunal, however, made it clear that construction shall commence only after Uttarakhand Forest Department and other concerned officials install screens on both sides of road bridge over the Song river and build anti-poaching camps at suitable locations.

Meanwhile, SAFE  in its petitionhad alleged that the construction proposed by the irrigation department violated the provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. It had claimed that the department had not obtained prior forest clearance from Environment Ministry or the State Government for "non-forest" activity in the forest area of the Rajaji National Park.