A Central environmental panel has spiked the National Highway Authority of India’s proposal to construct the Rs 1,078.40-crore 211-km-long eight-lane road (newly declared NH 148N) connecting Madhya Pradesh’s Ratlam district to Vadodara in Gujarat. It said the road may threaten the habitat of the highly endangered Lesser Floricans in the adjoining Sailna Khamor Wildlife Sanctuary in Ratlam district.
In a meeting held recently, the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Union Environment Ministry sought detailed information on the impact of the project on the smallest agro-grassland bustard which are in danger of becoming extinct from India. The last census in 2017 had put their number to just 264. This variety of bustard is found in the four States — Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.
The proposed project is a part of Delhi-Mumbai Expressway under Bharatmala Pariyojana as per the guidelines of the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways. The length of the proposed alignment is 31 km which is located within 10 km radius from the boundary of Sailana Kharmor Wildlife Sanctuary.
Curiously, while deliberating the proposed project at its recent meeting the EAC members found that plans pertaining to air, water, noise and soil quality monitoring locations along the proposed alignment were not submitted. Also, even though the proposed alignment was located within 10 km Salina Khamor Wildlife Sanctuary, in the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA)/Environment Management Programme (EMP) report, details of sanctuary, flora and fauna and conservation plan were not included. The EIA consultant of the project is M/s Enviro Infra Solutions Pvt Ltd, Ghaziabad.
The EAC also noted that the land acquisition for the proposed alignment was approximately 336.72 ha out of which 41.82 ha is forest land. Approximately 2,438 number of trees are likely to be cut.
For want of requisite information, the panel deferred its nod to the project and sought cumulative impacts of the project activities on the habitat of wildlife, such as Lesser Florian, direct loss of habitat at intersection locations particularly on account of damage to the existing vegetation due to construction activities and transport and degradation of habitat quality due to construction activities and construction camps, and human use of water resources.
It also took exception that as the project was largely elevated tracks and measures were needed to ensure injury and accidents to a lesser extent.
The EAC has also sought measures that need to be considered for habitat conservation and conservation of Lesser Florican and mitigation measures to be addressed in detail after consultation with the State Chief Wildlife warden.
Lesser Florican is the smallest bird of the bustard family. It is one of the four bustard species of India, all of which are threatened as per International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Though Lesser Florican has been given the highest degree of protection under Schedule-I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, its numbers have declined, necessitating its declaration as an endangered species in the IUCN Red list.
However, pushing the project for clearance, the Enviro Infra Solutions said that the proposed expressway will provide better, fast, safe and smooth connectivity for the commuters of Madhya Pradesh, especially in Ratlam region.
“Smooth and fast-moving traffic will cause only lower emissions thereby reducing pollution levels. Accident rates are also expected to come down substantially. Development of the proposed project road will improve the local agriculture and enable farmers to realise better value for their products as well as attract more investment to that region, thus boost economy of the area, State and nation as a whole. The vehicle operating and maintenance cost is expected to go down substantially.
The proposed road alignment will also include general amenities like bus bays, truck lay byes, rest areas, service road at builtup locations, pedestrian and cattle underpasses, landscaping and tree plantation, traffic aid post, emergency telecom system, emergency medical aid post, streetlight at built ups etc and thus overall facilities to the road users shall improve. People will have increased access to better social and health infrastructure and other services located outside the project area. This will in turn lead to overall improvement of the quality of life of the people residing in the project zone in terms of their economic, social and health status. Growth of local tourism and resultant boost to local economy is also expected due to proposed project,” it added.
