The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) on Wednesday sought a ‘factual status report’ from chief wildlife warden JS Suhag on granting permission to Garhwal Motors Union Limited to operate bus service on the Pakhro-Morghatti-Kalagarh-Ramnagar (Kandi Road) stretch. The Uttarakhand forest department`s approval for plying buses through the core area of the Corbett reserve irked the wildlife authorities. 

The director of Corbett Tiger Reserve, Rahul, on Wednesday gave the permission for operating a bus service on the stretch following the orders of the chief wildlife warden.

The communication, duly signed by NTCA deputy inspector general (Rajendra G Garawad, reads, “It is requested that a factual status report of the aforementioned subject violation of Section 38 (V) and Section 38 (O) of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 -- may be provided to this authority at the earliest.”

The complaint against this move of the forest department was brought before the NTCA by Bhanu Bansal, founder of Centre for Wildlife and Environmental Litigation Foundation, on December 21. The announcement of the bus service was made by forest minister Harak Singh Rawat on December 18 despite the past controversies that revolved around the construction of the Kandi Road.

Another activist-cum-advocate, Gaurav Bansal, has sent a legal notice to the chief wildlife warden of Uttarakhand forest department JS Suhag on Wednesday, alleging that the move to ply buses is in violation of the Supreme Court orders -- that came on a writ petition (civil) No 47 of 1998 titled Navin M. Raheja Vs Union of India & Others. While deciding on the road connectivity from Ramnagar to Kotdwar, the apex court had observed that ‘it is the duty of the state to preserve and protect the Corbett National Park, which is a national asset’, and also act according to the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

According to Bansal, Section 38 (V) (4) (i) of the Wildlife (Protection) Act-1972 has also been violated as it mandates that core areas -- like the present one (Kandi Road) -- are required to be kept as inviolate for the purpose of tiger conservation. In the present case, it is interference with the ‘inviolate area’, he added.

Under Section 38 (O) of WPA, NTCA has to ensure that a tiger reserve or an area linking one protected area or tiger reserve with another protected area or tiger reserve is ‘not diverted for ecologically unsustainable uses’. And, if it is being diverted for the public interest, then it is mandatory to take the ‘approval’ from the National Board for Wildlife and act on the advice of the Tiger Conservation Authority. But in this case, approval has not been taken from anyone.

The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) had surveyed the Kandi Road and found that the area not only has the world`s highest tiger density -- at 19.7 animals per 100 sq km -- but also, as per their field data, there is a ‘high potential traffic collision with focal animals`.

Suhag said, “To NTCA, yes, we will say that we gave them permission (for bus service). There is no contempt because the Supreme Court had stayed the order of the high court that stopped the plying of private vehicles on the said stretch of road. We have restored the public bus service only after the Supreme Court allowed it. The day the SC tells us not to move anything through Corbett, we will comply.”

If You Like This Story, Support NYOOOZ

NYOOOZ SUPPORTER

₹ 10 - ₹ 1000

NYOOOZ FRIEND

₹ 2000 - ₹ 5000

Your support to NYOOOZ will help us to continue create and publish news for and from smaller cities, which also need equal voice as much as citizens living in bigger cities have through mainstream media organizations.