NGT grants sanction to construction of wall in Rajaji Park

The National Green Tribunal has granted its nod to construction of a concrete wall inside the Rajaji National Park along the Song river in Uttarakhand after it was informed that the structure would not affect movement of elephants.
The green panel denied the contention that the 2 km-long wall would obstruct the elephant corridor in the national park and agreed with the submission of Wildlife Institute of India (WII) that construction of ramps on the controversial wall should be enough to assist movement of these animals.
"Elephant is an intelligent animal which has exploratory tendency and in a given circumstance has ability to find out its way, and in the present case ramps spread over 2 Km of length afford passage to the elephants to move across the wall and the river...

"Considering the revelations made before us by these experts in wildlife, we all are of the view that the ramps provided can cater to the wildlife needs," a bench headed by Justice U D Salvi noted.
The tribunal, however, made it clear that construction shall commence only after Uttarakhand Forest Department and other concerned officials install screens on both sides of road bridge over the Song river and build anti-poaching camps at suitable locations.
It also asked the officials in the national park to "stabilise and protect the river island on Ganga and provide vegetation cover on the banks of Song and Ganga before the onset of monsoon season."

The construction of the wall was planned by the state's irrigation department to protect village Gohri Mafi from flooding and "as an ancillary measure of conservation, development and management of forest and wildlife in accordance with the approved management plan of Rajaji National Park."

The tribunal's judgement came while disposing a petition filed by NGO Social Action for Forest and Environment (SAFE) seeking directions to remove the wall and restore the area to its original position and take action against violators.
The NGO had alleged that the construction proposed by the irrigation department violated the provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.

It had claimed that the department had not obtained prior forest clearance from Environment Ministry or the state government for "non-forest" activity in the forest area of the Rajaji National Park.