We don’t need 4-lane highways, say experts

The widening of National Highway Number 7 (NH-7) - connecting New Delhi to Kanyakumari - has ground to a halt outside the Pench Tiger Reserve amid fears that any widening here will destroy the ecologically rich but fragile forest ecosystem.

At a meeting in New Delhi on May 21 of the Central Empowered Committee, which oversees matters related to wildlife and forests, wildlife experts strongly opposed widening the highway through the tiger reserve.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is working on the Seoni, Madhya Pradesh, to Nagpur stretch of this north-south highway. A number of large trees had been cut along the Seoni-Nagpur highway to make way for the highway, which is being widened from its current two lanes to four lanes. However, the felling of trees was halted following instructions from the CEC.

Wildlife experts complain that while planning the highway widening, the NHAI had ignored the fragile nature of the green corridor from Pench to Nagzira-Navegaon. When the road expansion work began near Seoni, NHAI had sought permission but conservationists had objected, pointing out that wildlife corridor is important for maintaining the genetic continuity between different green zones in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

The Delhi-based non-governmental organisation, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), has moved the CEC seeking to stop the widening of NH 7 into a four-lane highway along the Pench reserve. WTI has claimed that this project affect the wildlife and reverse the ongoing efforts to save tigers in the region.

Rajesh Gopal, member-secretary of the National Tiger Conservation Authority, which has studied the adverse effects of the proposed road widening on wildlife in the Pench Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, had said the road widening work should be stopped.

A team of experts has not only opposed the road widening as it would affect the movement of wildlife but has also rejected the alternative to build 13 bridges so that wildlife movement is not hampered. The experts say the traffic noise will still scare away the animals and have, suggested an alternate Seoni-Chainwada-Saoner-Nagpur route for the highway.

Incidentally, while planning the NH-7 expansion, the NHAI had completely ignored wildlife concerns, including the objections raised by the Maharashtra forest department.

Kishor Rithe, a wildlife conservationist and a member of the CEC, said, “The NHAI and Ministry of Environment and Forests must reconsider the stretch of 70 kilometres from Mansar (in Nagpur district) to Rukhad (in Seoni district) and not just Rukhad to Khawasa.”