Supreme Court panel flags clearance to road in Rajaji reserve, seeks clarification

A Supreme Court-appointed committee has questioned relaxations given for upgrade of a 4.7-km road in the buffer zone of Rajaji Tiger Reserve and sought replies from the Centre and Uttarakhand government.

The Central Empowered Committee (CEC) asked the state government and ADG (Wildlife) of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) why the length of an elevated road for movement of animals was reduced to 400 metres from 1,410 metres — the latter was suggested by an expert committee with members from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and Wildlife Institute of India (WII).

The height of the passage was also revised down to 6 metres from 8 metres.