28th March, 2019

The National Green Tribunal on Thursday directed National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to complete construction of flyovers on National Highway-74 adjoining Rajaji Tiger Reserve within 12 months.

The green tribunal was hearing a petition on wildlife mortality on the highway. The principle bench headed by Justice AK Goel, chairman of NGT, issued the directions while hearing the petition filed by Delhi-based advocate Gaurav Bansal.

The court also directed the Uttarakhand government, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC), to take necessary actions to prevent road-kill in the area. It directed the state government to submit its objections within three weeks on the draft Tiger Conservation Plan proposed by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in January this year.

Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India (WII), in a study conducted in 2017 named ‘Impact of national highways on wildlife in the Haridwar Forest division’, had recorded 222 deaths of wild animals on National Highway-74 which connects Dehradun to Haridwar.

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