The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has given clearance for the completion of a road construction project under the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) from Kirchi to Seoj Dhar in Udhampur district of the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir. This development project will benefit 661 people living here.
A small cluster amid the hills surrounded by forests, including a wildlife sanctuary, Seoj Dhar has had no all-weather road and was included in the latest phase of the PMGSY.
The only problem was that some stretches of the 31.05-km road, taking off at Kirchi village, were to pass through forest/wildlife areas.
“Forest/wildlife cannot be avoided as the alignment proposed is the only feasible vital connectivity to the villages,” said the ‘Justification letter for forest/wildlife and diversion’ when the proposal was sent for clearance from the NBWL as nearly 7 hectare of Ramnagar Wildlife Sanctuary was needed for the road.