Mr. Harak Singh Rawat, Environment Minister, Uttarakhand has announced construction of highway from Corbett Park by formally handing over survey work to Wildlife Institute of India (WII) at the cost of Rs. 2.5 crores. He also told that Govt is serious in constructing this highway once WII completes the survey.
However, this clearly violates earlier developments and rulings in the matter.
1. It is well known that out of 90 kms of road, around 50 km passes through core area of Corbett Park. In 2005, Supreme Court had rejected proposed route and directed for an alternative road outside the periphery of park so as not to disturb wildlife.
2. India is party to 2010 St. Petersburg Declaration on Tiger Conservation which commits to ' making critical tiger habitats breeding area as inviolate area where no economical or commercial infrastructure development or other adverse activities are permitted’.
3. In December 2018, the Environment Ministry asked all the states not to propose new roads through protected forests and consider proposals for upgrading existing roads with adequate mitigation measures irrespective of the cost ’only where the alternative alignments are not available’.
4. Ministry of Environment, Forest and climate change and the National Board for Wildlife and National Tiger Conservation Authority in an affidavit to the NGT raised objection to the proposed road citing that construction work on the 50 km said that would pass through core area of Corbett tiger reserve could pose a threat to the big cat population
MOEF said that since Corbett was a national park as per section 83 V (4) (i) of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, such areas “are required to be kept as invalid for the purpose of tiger conservation”.
The affidavit also stated that the project made no mention of conserving tiger population. It also said that section 38 0 (1) (b) of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 mandates the National Tiger Conservation Authority to “evaluate and assess various aspect of sustainable ecology and disallow any ecologically unsustainable land use such as mining, industry and other projects with in the tiger reserves”.
In its affidavit to the Green tribunal, MOEF had said that “The tiger population at Corbett Tiger Reserve is important for maintaining the viability of the entire Terai landscape and disrupting it through large-scale construction as ostensibly envisaged in the project shall jeopardise one of the few viable tiger population in the country”
With all above valid reasons, Is not irony that a project which can kill Corbett is being reopened for construction and Wild life Institute of India (WII) which is supposed to protect the wildlife has become facilitator for clearance of construction of such adverse projects?
And also is it not the contempt of the court and defiance of the directives of Central Government and NTCA on Corbett Park?
And Amar Ujala newspaper is calling ot a good news !!!
Let us ponder and act....