Dehradun: Nine years after a 731-m-long flyover was proposed in Rajaji National Park (RNP) to avoid disturbing wildlife, the National Green Tribunal ( NGT ) on Tuesday directed the ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEF&CC) and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to submit status reports on its construction by January 18, 2019.The Centre for Wildlife and Environmental Litigation (CWEL) had filed a case in the NGT for the protection and conservation of tigers in the reserve alleging that due to traffic disturbances, tigers were getting locally extinct.The tribunal had sought a detailed report on the construction of the six-m-high and 731-m-long elephant underpass at Chilla Motichur Corridor, which is a part of the four-laning of Haridwar-Dehradun section of NH-58 and NH-72 that passes through RNP.CWEL had alleged that in the absence of a functional corridor between the western and eastern part of Rajaji, tigers were getting locally extinct. CWEL general secretary Bhanu Bansal referring to a research paper, “Losing Times for the Tiger”, said, “The entire nation needs to focus on this corridor. The research paper by eminent wildlife scientists states that the ‘case of Chila Motichur corridor is an acid test for the Indian conservation movement.’ Despite recommendations to recover the habitat for nearly three decades, tiger population in the north western ranges remained threatened. We found that despite the availability of adequate and timely ecological information and assessment, all projects failed to progress because of multiple institutional failures.”The project was awarded to a firm in 2010 by NHAI and MoEF&CC. When TOI contacted the NHAI office in Uttarakhand, a senior official said, “The project could not be completed due to some internal problems. The contract awarded to the firm expired in May this year and NHAI has already invited bidding with a deadline of 2019 to finish the project.”

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