High Court bans construction activities on part of Tiger Corridor, five agencies including NHAI made defendants | High Court bans construction activities on part of Tiger Corridor, five agencies including NHAI made defendants

High Court Jabalpur has stayed the ongoing highway construction on Betul-Obedullaganj National Highway – 69. This ban on construction will be applicable on the part of Satpura Melghat Tiger Reserve Corridor. The stay has been imposed after hearing a public interest litigation. Five other agencies, including NHAI, have been made respondents in the case. The issue of not taking permission from the National Tiger Conservation Authority is a major issue in the construction of the highway.

Advait Kavle, a resident of Amravati, Maharashtra, had filed a petition in the Jabalpur High Court. During the appearance, the court had given time to the NHAI and the National Tiger Conservation Authority to produce the relevant clearance certificate, but even after two appearances, the said department could not produce the relevant certificate, after which the High Court, Jabalpur, during the third appearance on Friday. Taking a scathing remark, the work of National Highway 69 has now been stopped with immediate effect. This restriction has been imposed on the part through which the wildlife corridor passes.

Petitioner’s advocate Milind Parivakam told Dainik Bhaskar that there are dense forests of Satpura Melghat Tiger Corridor on the highway being built from Betul district to Obaidullaganj. Tigers and other wild animals move from one national park to another national park through these corridors, so their conservation is very important. According to the rules, before the construction of the highway in the corridor, it is necessary to get the clearance related to the wildlife from the National Board of Wildlife (NBWL) and the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), from which the National Highway is constructed for the wildlife, but the NHAI has approved this. In this regard, till now no document related to taking clearance has been presented in the High Court, after which the work of National Highway-69 has been stopped with immediate effect.

Wildlife and Nature Conservation Activist Adil Khan, resident of Sarni said that there have been cases of bear death in the past at Baretha Ghat. At the same time, last year, a tiger cub was found dead on the tracks of a train built near the national highway in Bumblebee, Betul. Rescued from Sarni in 2018 and 2019, the tiger also reached Sarni from Maharashtra via Satpura Melghat Tiger Corridor, which shows that the National Highway built in the middle of Tiger Corridor is crossed from time to time through wild animals. Therefore, it is very important to design the National Highway from the point of view of wild animals.