Policy Decisions: Avoid Roadkills

In a bid to mitigate damage to wildlife and to the corridor for four-laning of national highway number six in 80 km patch in Bhandara and Gondia divisions, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has been recommended construction of eight underpasses.

The recommendation comes from two consultantsâ€"RN Indurkar, former chief conservator of forests (CCF) for wildlife, and SS Deshpande, ex- assistant conservator of forests (ACF). The experts submitted their report to NHAI project director NY Wadetwar on Tuesday.

The NHAI is implementing the four-lane project stretching from Chhattisgarh border to Wainganga Bridge near Bhandara. Of the total 80 kms project stretch, about 24 km passes through forests. The NHAI had submitted proposal to divert 85 hectare forest land for the project.

The consultant has recommended eight underpasses of 10 feet height and 20 feet width at every two km in the forest patch. Other measures of the mitigation plan include fencing, water conservation works and providing tractor, tanker fitted with pump for Navegaon Park.

As per NHAI estimates, it would cost another Rs 10 crore to implement mitigative measures. This includes Rs 45 lakh for each underpass, Rs 1.20 crore for erection of fencing upto 40 km, Rs 3 lakh towards 10 rescue gates and ramps, Rs 2.10 lakh for 14 cattle guards, Rs 32,000 for each wicket gates and expenses towards sign boards. Additional expense of Rs 35.65 lakh for repair of old water tanks and construction of new has been recommended for the forest department.

The consultants have suggested adoption of water conservation measures and have identified nine places including two compartments (202 and 203) of Navegaon National Park.

Water is important constraint which compels wildlife to move from inside to the fringes where they meet with accidents. In view of this, nine spots have been identified where repairs to dam, desilting of water holes, deepening of tanks construction of nulla bunds have been suggested. These works should be monitored by the forest officials. The report states that this may be perhaps the first project in India focusing to mitigate damage to wildlife.

TOI in January 2009 had first reported how the four-laning will cut the corridor between Nagzira-Navegaon and Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR). Based on the report, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), an NGO working for tiger conservation, had moved centrally empowered committee (CEC) of the supreme court in June 2009.

The WTI objected that widening of the road will break the corridor and stop dispersal of tigers as its falls between nine tiger reserves of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. The stretch was later inspected by the CEC members on June 24, 2009. They had also asked CCF (wildlife) Nandkishore to send a report.

Nandkishore in his report sent to CEC on August 17, 2009 had recommended 8-13 underpasses in five stretches viz. Shirpur-Nawatola; Maramjob-Duggipar; Duddipar-Bamhni; Soundad-Sendurwafa; and Mundipar-Sakoli. The NHAI consultants too have suggested 8 underpasses in these patches.

"A copy of the report will be submitted to the forest department and NHAI headquarters at Delhi as it is," Wadetwar told TOI. "As it has been decided that the right of way ( ROW) of NH-6 will be 45 metres instead of 60 metres in forest stretches, requirement of land had reduced to 38.32 hectares," he added.

The report admits that at one stretch, the boundary of the Navegoan park is just a km away from the road and comes under the eco-sensitive zone of the park. Hence, special treatment needs to be given in and around these areas.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Build-eight-underpasses-on-NH6/articleshow/6328399.cms#ixzz0xVABaMYj

Another inititaive to Avoid Road Kills: Suniti Bhushan Datta:
They should follow what the Uttarakhand FD and Northern Railways is doing along the Rajaji NP portion of the Haridwar-Dehra Dun railway track- slowing trains down, patrolling the tracks day and night (actually) to warn oncoming trains of el...ephants crossing. There hasn't been an elephant knocked down on the track since 2005.
During my dissertation last year, the room i was staying in at my field station in the Chilla Range of RNP, was next door to the guard's wireless and it used to crackle all night with messages going back and forth between the railway track patrols and the control room about elephants crossing at such-and-such post...The work that those guards are doing is amazing.

Underpasses help elephants cross National highway near Manas Tiger Reserve
India’s National Highway 152 connects Pathsala town of Assam with neighbouring Bhutan. For about 35km this highway runs parallel to the Manas National Park's (NP) eastern boundary and cuts through Daodhora Reserve Forest (RF) - a buffer of the Manas Tiger Reserve (TR). It has been found that a 4-km stretch of this road is more frequented by elephants than rest of the highway. To facilitate their free movement across this road, the highway was elevated at two locations and underpasses were built, which opened for traffic in May 2010. These underpasses are helping these gentle giants move freely across the forest without the fear of vehicles.

Underpass for elephants
This underpass project is the idea of Assam Government. Based on requests for constructing underpasses which were sent by some State Government officials, the Ministry of Surface Transport readily accepted the innovative suggestion. Mr. A. Swargowary, the then Nodal Officer and currently Field Director, Manas TR, verified the proposal and Mr. M. C. Malakar, then Chief Wildlife Warden, Assam worked for its approval.

A survey to re-align the road was done with the help of local youth. The entire stretch of this road inside the Tiger Reserve was realigned to minimise the disturbance to the park’s wildlife and a diversion was made for it to pass through the adjoining Reserve Forest. The NGO Manas Maozigendri Eco-tourism Society (MMES) supported these efforts. The newly aligned road along with the underpasses was thrown open to traffic in May 2010. Both the underpasses are 30 feet tall with a width of about 165 feet. Each of these is divided into two parts by a supporting column.

Present scenario
On 25 August 2010, a team comprising of officials from the Assam Forest Department including Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Deputy Director of Manas NP and Range Officer of Bhuyapara wildlife range apart from members of WWF-India’s North Bank Landscape (NBL) team visited some parts of Bhuyapara range in the eastern part of Manas NP as well as the newly aligned road and the underpasses. They found that elephants were using the underpasses. According to Amit Sharma, Coordinator of WWF-India’s Rhino Conservation efforts, locals from nearby villages also vouched for this. Mr. Sokiram of the nearby Dakhin Khamardwisa village along with his friends witnessed the passage of a small herd of elephants through one of these underpasses on the evening of 9 July, 2010. Other locals also say that these are often used by small herds of elephants residing in the nearby forests. “This has been confirmed by Mr. Birkhang Goyari, a Co-ordinator of MMES” says Amit.

He adds “Similar designs can be adopted for other forest roads that harbour elephants based on this case.” He adds, “Although there are indications of elephants using this underpass, we believe some green cover has been disturbed during the construction. This needs to be restored through human intervention. This will aid more intensive use of the underpasses by wildlife, including the small animals apart from elephants and tigers”.

Tell Ministries to Use Elephant-Saving Speed Guns!

In the wake of the recent death of seven elephants who were killed by a speeding train in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district, PETA sent a letter to Jairam Ramesh, Minister of Environment and Forests, and Mamata Banerjee, Minister of Railways, urging them to appoint an independent third-party agency to use speed-detection guns to catch train drivers who exceed the speed limit.

Recently, PETA successfully demonstrated the effectiveness of an imported speed-detection gun on trains in the elephant corridor near Guwahati. A Divisional Forest Officer (Wildlife) from Guwahati was satisfied by the accuracy and effectiveness of the gun under both daylight and nighttime conditions and considered the device to be extremely effective and valuable in enforcing speed laws.

One hundred fifty elephants have been killed by trains since 1987, and train deaths are thought to be a key threat to Indian elephants. Approximately 25,000 to 27,000 Asian elephants live in India, and they have only 65,000 square kilometres of habitat available to them. Let's join together to prevent these elephants from being hit and killed by speeding trains.