Complete elevated corridor at Kaziranga National Park at the earliest, directs Supreme Court

'We expect the NHAI to complete the project at the earliest and also expect the other stakeholders to provide full support and cooperation for expeditious completion of the said project', the bench said.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it expects the NHAI to complete at the earliest the proposed elevated corridor of approximately 34 kilometres in the Kaziranga National Park and that other stakeholders will provide full support to the wildlife-friendly measure.

The Assam government informed the apex court that the elevated corridor was proposed for the National Park, which is famed for one-horned rhinoceros.

It apprised a bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan that work on a detailed project report was in progress by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has placed the project as a priority (category one).

"It does appear that the state of Assam and the MoRTH are taking necessary steps to provide an elevated corridor which bifurcates the two parts of Kaziranga sanctuary so as to provide free access to the wildlife from one part of the forest to the other part of the forest," the bench said.

"We expect the NHAI to complete the project at the earliest and also expect the other stakeholders to provide full support and cooperation for expeditious completion of the said project," it said.

The top court was hearing a matter related to the Kaziranga National Park in Assam.

It noted that pursuant to the apex court's March 13 order, the state of Assam and the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) have filed their respective affidavits in the matter.

It also noted that as per the state's affidavit, the National Board for Wildlife has accorded its approval to the proposal for the diversion of around 20 hectares of forest land.

The bench also referred to the KAAC's affidavit which dealt with the issue of mining activities in areas bordering the national park.

The apex court noted that as per the affidavit, mining activities in areas bordering the southern part of the national park have already been closed.

"We, therefore, find that the KAAC has also taken necessary steps to stop the illegal mining in the areas bordering Kaziranga National Park," the bench said.

On November 4 last year, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that Rs 5,500 crore has been allocated for constructing an elevated expressway as a wildlife-friendly measure for the Kaziranga National Park.

The four-lane elevated road along NH-715 (old NH-37) will be at three locations with a total length of 34.28 km and this will also include two tunnels, the chief minister had said.

The concept of the wildlife-friendly road was developed in consultation with the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, and will have elevated roads and tunnels to act as animal underpasses and overpasses respectively, Sarma had said.

Besides rhinoceros, animals that can be seen in the elephant grass, marshland and dense tropical moist broadleaf forests of the Kaziranga National Park include hoolock gibbon, tiger, leopard, Indian elephants, sloth bear, wild water buffalo and swamp deer.