Uttarakhand high court directed the state government to consider declaring elephant corridors in the Jim Corbett National Park as “eco-sensitive zones” and not to allow constructions in any form like hotels, resorts and restaurants which fall within the identified corridors in the area.
The court has made it clear that the government should remove the construction obstructing the path of elephants to the rivers and provide compensation to the concerned.
On the orders of the Supreme Court, the Tamil Nadu government had passed an important order in the case of a hotel-resort obstructing the Elephant Corridor on the Nilgiri Hills. The Madras High Court had also upheld the Tamil Nadu government’s order to pay compensation to hotel resort operators who obstructed the corridor on the directions of the Supreme Court.
The survey report mentions more traffic at night
The survey on Ramnagar-Mohan Road was conducted in 2016 under Project Elephant. It was clearly stated in its report that the way of elephants to reach the river has been stopped due to the construction of all hotels-resorts. Dense construction has been done in many places. The team also saw traffic at night, which was excessive. Even the hotel-resort operators themselves took the tourists to see the wildlife. On the basis of this report, the court has passed orders to appoint night guards from 10 pm to 4 am. The government has been asked to consider banning new constructions. No action even on the order of the Supreme Court
Indiscriminate constructions have been done in the elephant corridor area in CTR. In 2016, even after the strict guidelines of the Supreme Court, no action was taken on the constructions of the Hotel Resort which became a hindrance in the Elephant Corridor. The petitioner’s advocate Dushyant Mainali says that the order of the High Court regarding the elephant corridor is very important. Now the accountability of the officers has also been fixed in this order.
According to advocate Mainali, in 2020, the Supreme Court had passed an order regarding the elephant corridor in the Nilgiri hills of Tamil Nadu. In this order, the construction of the hotel resort which obstructed the elephant corridor was removed and the concerned were compensated. With this order, the Supreme Court had issued guidelines to all the states of the country.
“They have started using areas, which are still available as a corridor for movement to cross-over the river and move from Jim Corbett National Park to the forest falling in Ramnagar division, and vice versa.
Also Read – International Indigenous day 2022: Everything You Need To Know
Keep watching our YouTube Channel ‘DNP INDIA’. Also, please subscribe and follow us on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, and TWITTER.
