Bhubaneswar: The Eastern Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a notice to the regional office of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) seeking its response on apprehensions regarding a proposed underpass for elephants.
This comes after a petition was filed before the environment watchdog seeking its intervention in the case where the design of an underpass on the proposed stretch of National Highway-55 was not according to the needs of an elephant passage.
The petitioner in the case, Wildlife Society of Odisha, had earlier claimed that the proposed highway which was planned to be constructed under expansion/upgradation of NH-55 from Manguli to Angul and from Angul to Sambalpur passed through four districts of Odisha which are known to host a good population of the elephants.
It was claimed that the stretch of NH-55 fell under the Mahanadi Elephant Reserve and adjoined the buffer zone of Satkosia Tiger Reserve.
The petitioner had claimed that the guidelines of Wildlife Institute of India Report-2016 regarding ‘Eco-friendly Measures to Mitigate Impacts of Linear Infrastructure on Wildlife’ recommended the limit of a span of an underpass as 50 metres with height of 6-8 metres and a width of 10-12 metres.
However, the underpass, in no case, should be less than 7 metres in height and the span should not be less than 50 metres. The petitioner had claimed that NHAI had reduced the span of the underpass to 25 metres instead of 50 metres which could deter the movement of elephants on the stretch.
“In our opinion, the matter requires consideration. Issue notice to Respondent No 4, Regional Officer, National Highway Authority of India, Bhubaneswar, returnable within four weeks,” the NGT order said. The next hearing of the case has been fixed on September 27, 2021.