Rail Line Through Central India Tiger Corridor Gets Nod
A railway line project that will claim more than 200 hectares of forest land within a tiger corridor connecting Satpura Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh and Melghat Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra has received in-principle clearance from the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife (SC-NBWL), India's apex wildlife body.
The SC-NBWL recommended the project for clearance subject to several conditions, including adoption of mitigation measures based on a scientific study by the State Forest Research Institute in Jabalpur.
According to the project's wildlife conservation management report, the proposed railway line will affect the Satpura-Melghat tiger corridor at two locations, as well as an eco-sensitive zone within the ecologically significant Satpura-Pench-Melghat landscape. The corridor is a crucial stretch ensuring the contiguity of forests in Satpura and the sustenance of tigers in Central India, the report said. "It helps in maintaining biodiversity, allows tiger population to interbreed, permit movement of all animals and plants across a larger landscape and provide access to larger habitats, enable species to cross hostile areas, increase their range and colonise new sites," it said.
The report also flagged several possible impacts on wildlife. It said the railway line may restrict, inhibit or prevent species movement due to factors such as traffic noise, train movement, pollution and human activity, and warned of a possible rise in man-animal conflict due to increased human presence and habitat shrinkage. "Railways may disrupt the normal home range of wild animals, forcing them to explore new areas, where they may come into conflict with human beings," the report said.
The project involves Central Railway constructing a third railway line from Jujharpur in Betul district to Chichonda in Narmadapuram district, both in Madhya Pradesh.
A committee constituted by the SC-NBWL inspected the project site in March. According to minutes of an SC-NBWL meeting held July 9, the committee observed that while the railway department had proposed building numerous wildlife overpasses to mitigate the project's impact, detailed engineering designs for these structures were yet to be finalised. It also noted that a comprehensive scientific assessment of the project's likely impacts, along with appropriate landscape-level mitigation measures, had not been completed at the time of the inspection.
The SC-NBWL's clearance recommendation is subject to several conditions, including a requirement that all mitigation measures be adopted in line with the scientific study report from the State Forest Research Institute, Jabalpur. "Upon receipt and examination of the scientific study and other relevant data, the site inspection committee shall revisit the project area and submit definitive recommendations regarding the location, dimensions, design, and connectivity of the wildlife mitigation structures," the SC-NBWL said.
(With inputs from PTI)
