Pursue NHAI for mitigation on NH-69, NTCA tells MP

Nagpur: In a belated move, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has finally written to the chief wildlife warden of Madhya Pradesh to pursue the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to take wildlife clearance while expanding roads in the tiger corridor patches between Betul and Hoshangabad on NH-46 (NH-69).
The NTCA has said that with the tiger corridors in Central India experiencing one of the largest levels of habitat fragmentation, it poses a serious threat for future landscape connectivity and contiguity.The Satpura-Melghat corridor is mostly through the forested landscape of Hoshangabad and Betul, and currently has medium intensity agriculture and human density. It may be timely to safeguard this corridor to maintain it as a potentially viable corridor permitting gene flow of wild species including tigers between Satpura-Melghat.
TOI did a series of stories on how the tiger corridor between Satpura and Melghat tigers reserves was being destroyed by the NHAI without taking any mitigation measures. Talking to TOI, SP Yadav, member-secretary NTCA said on February 16, 2022, the NTCA wrote to the MP forest department that NHAI doesn’t have wildlife clearance for the project.
Documents with TOI reveal that a virtual meeting was held on February 14 and February 16 with MP officials. The correspondence between the MP forest department and NTCA also takes cognizance of the multiple news articles by the TOI exposing NHAI violating the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 by undertaking the construction without National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) clearance and threatening the corridor between Satpura-Melghat.
The MP forest department was represented by APCCF (wildlife) HS Negi, who retired on February 28. The virtual meeting admitted that wildlife clearance is available only for the Ratapani section and not for the section passing through the Satpura-Melghat corridor.
Taking a strong view, the NTCA asked MP to request the NHAI to seek the ‘mandatory’ wildlife clearance for the NH69 sections passing through the Satpura-Melghat corridor. The NTCA also mentions that it sent several communications to MP since 2018 without receiving any response in return.
Negi mentioned that the area between Keslaghat and Baretha was visited by a committee and mitigation measures on the lines of NH7 (Kanha-Pench corridor) were suggested. However, NHAI was reluctant to take mitigation steps due to the topography of the area claiming mitigations would not be feasible. He informed that since forest clearance was accorded for the project, NHAI started construction.
The NTCA while communicating the need for wildlife clearance suggested several alternatives being implemented in various parts of the country as potential solutions for mitigating the threat from the widening of the NH69. It is surprising how the project went ahead despite several NGOs working under the Satpura Landscape Tiger Programme (SLTP).
TOI talked to Bivash Pandav, director of BNHS, which is on the MP state wildlife board. Pandav said, “Though we work under the SLTP, it is confined to education programs in Chandrapur district. The destruction of the corridor is a serious issue and I will certainly write to NTCA.”
“This is a very important corridor that needs urgent protection and strict mitigation measures. Unfortunately, despite highways minister Nitin Gadkari making many statements about the importance of protecting wildlife conflicts on highways, action to avoid or mitigate road kills is sadly lacking.
“It is high time that the members of the MP state wildlife board take up this issue on priority. We must take all measures to avoid a repeat of the NH7 situation,” said Debi Goenka, executive trustee, Conservation Action Trust (CAT).
“It is a big apathy that it took two months for the NTCA to arrange a meeting to discuss the issue. At this speed, how will the NTCA be able to save many corridors that will be cut in the future? It seems the meeting was delayed to allow APCCF Negi to retire peacefully,” said a section of conservationists.
“The NHAI seems to have taken the authorities for a ride. If mitigation can be built in Kurai Ghat in the Kanha-Pench corridor on NH7, which has a steeper gradient, then why can’t it be built in Baretha Ghat and Kesla Ghats? And where is the terrain in the Bhoura patch? It is completely flat. NHAI’s excuses seem to have been taken at face value and a deeper investigation is required involving experienced road ecologists,” said Milind Pariwakam, a wildlife biologist with WCT and Member of the IUCN’s Connectivity Conservation Specialist Group.
“It is shocking to see that MP did not respond to NTCA’s communications on the matter for 4 years. This exposes the tall claims by the state being a leader in tiger conservation,” said Udayan Patil of Srushti Paryavaran Mandal that fought for mitigation measures on NH7 passing through the Kanha-Pench corridor.