A green ministry panel is going to do a field inspection to assess the impact of a proposed road from Kolhapur to Sindhudurg on ecologically sensitive areas of the Western Ghats and the Radhanagari tiger corridor,
The tiger corridor is the chief passage connecting tiger source population in Goa and Karnataka to Sahyadris in Maharashtra and is crucial for potential growth of tigers in Sahyadris.
The environment ministry's expert appraisal committee (EAC) on infrastructure appraised the 9.5-km-long-proposed road project earlier this month. It noted that the project passes through the fragile Western Ghats, in close proximity of Radhanagari wildlife sanctuary.
As per the information provided to the EAC, the road will pass through 25.76 hectares of thick reserve forests. This would mean 17,823 trees would have to be chopped — 8,730 in Sindhudurg district and 9,093 in Kolhapur district.
In view of this information, the EAC decided that a sub-committee should conduct a field inspection to decide the fate of the project.
The EAC also sought to know the status of the wildlife and forest clearances for the project, since it is located within 5 km of the sanctuary.
The project has drawn criticism from activists and conservationists, who claim it would fragment some of the old-growth forests and pose a threat to the Sahyadri tiger corridor.
Conservationist Girish Punjabi states in his research that the Sahyadri corridor is key to improving the tiger population in the Ghats. The Centre's estimate in 2014 says Sahyadri reserve has 5-8 tigers while, Radhanagari has rare sightings.
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- Conservationist Girish Punjabi states the Sahyadri corridor is key to improving the tiger population in the Ghats.
- Centre’s estimate in 2014 says Sahyadri reserve has 5-8 tigers while, Radhanagari has rare sightings.
