After Jai, his corridor too all set to become history

Nagpur: The state forest department has been caught napping once again, with public works department (PWD) on the brink of destroying the mother of all corridors by widening the road between Nilaj T-point and Paoni towards Bhandara.
The 15km forested patch on NH-247 is one of the most functional corridors connecting Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR), Bramhapuri forest division and Ghodazari wildlife sanctuary near Nagbhid.
“There have been several dispersals of tigers, both male and females, from Bramhapuri and Tadoba to Umred-Paoni-Karhandla wildlife sanctuary (189 sq km) and vice versa, even before the latter sanctuary was notified in June 2012. Due to the topography of tiger-corridor with respect to this road, there is no alternate alignment possible. If this road is widened without mitigation measures, it will threaten the long-term viability of tigers in this PA,” warns wildlife biologist Aditya Joshi.
Umred-Karhandla is relatively a small area and is highly dependent on Tadoba and Bramhapuri for maintaining its tiger population. The death of a sub-adult tiger in a territorial fight on Friday with a bigger male T-22 from Bramhapuri proves tigers have been moving in and out of Umred-Karhandla through Paoni forested patch. T-22 regained its territory after leaving the sanctuary in 2009.
“This is the corridor frequently used by iconic tiger Jai and his two siblings Bittu and Shriniwas. The latter was electrocuted in a farm near Nagbhid in April 2017. If mitigation structures are not constructed, tigers will be forced to move through farms and there will be more deaths due to electrocution and road hits too,” cautioned Joshi.
NH-247 moves in a U-shape from Saoner-Kamptee-Mauda-Kuhi-Wadoda-Umred-Nilaj-Paoni-Adyal-Bhandara. According to PWD officials, this road has been expanded in patches, and work completed in Bhandara-Ramtek and Dahegaon-Khaparkheda-Kamptee.
Sources told TOI tree felling on Paoni-Nilaj patch is to start soon. Even expanding the existing 7-meter road to 10-meter will lead to the felling of thousands of trees. Despite thin traffic, the road is being widened, said some environmentalists.
“The road work was sanctioned in 2017-18 and we have completed 40% work on the highway. We have written to the forest department several times on the status of land between Paoni-Nilaj but have not received any communication on its status,” says executive engineer Naresh Borkar.
Borkar said, “Even now we are ready to take mitigation measures if forest department insists. We were the first to point out Paoni-Nilaj road was a corridor because we were asked to construct two structures between Nagbhid-Armori. Both roads are parallel, connecting each other to reach Bramhapuri through agriculture fields and forest area.”
A senior PWD officer said on condition of anonymity, “In 2017, when we had asked then field director of Pench about mitigation steps, he had said no mitigation measures were needed and only slab culverts would do.”
Vivek Hoshing, former deputy conservator of Bhandara, had conducted a joint survey in July with PWD officials between forest patches of Paoni-Nilaj and Daudipar-Adyal. “These forests were already denotified way back in 1902 and 1908 for roads,” Hoshing says.
CCF, Nagpur Circle, P Kalyan Kumar said, “I will have to verify what Hoshing says. However, even if the forest was dereserved, there is no doubt it’s a functional corridor, and the user agency will require NOC from the forest department. We have not granted it yet.”
The report titled ‘Collars & Crossing Zones’ released in May 2017 by Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, recommended animal underpasses. “A breakdown in the connectivity within these landscapes may endanger the ecosystem and gravely affect the landscape and population dynamics. The report was based on radio collar data of two tigers from Umred-Karhandla. These tigers used over 3,000 sq km area using roads, railway line, canals, and transmission lines,” it revealed.
PCCF’s Role Crucial
NTCA on November 28, 2018, asked chief wildlife wardens to assert on Section 38 (O) (1) (b) of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 which says, “Evaluate and assess various aspects of sustainable ecology and disallow any ecologically unsustainable and use such as mining, industry, and other projects within the tiger reserve.” Secondly, NTCA said, Section 38 (O) (1) (g) of the WPA states, “Ensure that the tiger reserves and areas linking one protected area or tiger reserve with another protected area or tiger reserve is not diverted for ecologically unsustainable uses, except in public interest, and with the approval of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) and on the advice of the NTCA.”