Having failed to execute its much-touted project of developing a wildlife corridor between the Lake Reserve Forest and Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary in the past one decade, the Chandigarh Administration is now set to revise the project proposal in an attempt to resolve the land acquisition problem.

The Administration has planned to construct a pathway on about 100 acres land instead of a corridor which was proposed to come up at around 450 acres land to connect the forest area and wildlife sanctuary.

The decision has been taken in view of huge cost involved in developing the wildlife corridor, aimed at creating a safe passage for wildlife between the forest area and sanctuary. The proposed corridor to come up between the Reserve Forest area and the Regulator End of the Sukhna Lake on a stretch spanning nearly 1.4 km was to be developed in phases.

The corridor plan was, however, put on the backburner even as around 50 acres land was acquired by the Administration in 2011 for the project.

“A meeting was convened recently to hold discussion on how to proceed on the long-pending wildlife corridor project. It is estimated that around Rs 2500 crore would be spent if the Administration go ahead with the existing plan.

As huge funds are required for acquiring land, including a special grant from the Central Government, we have decided to chalk out a revised plan where about 100 acres land would be required for the project,” said a senior officer of UT Administration while talking to The Pioneer.

The officer said that instead of acquiring a total of 450 acres land to connect the forest area and wildlife sanctuary, we have planned to acquire a total of 100 acres to construct the pathway.

This would not require huge funds and could be implemented after the Centre’s approval, he added.

Objective of the corridor

The wildlife corridor on land measuring 450 acres in Kaimbwala village in the north-eastern part of the city adjoining the inter-state boundary with Punjab and on the upper end of the Sukhna Lake was proposed in Chandigarh Master Plan 2031.

The Lake Reserve Forest and Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary are separated by agricultural land and the growing wildlife population in the Sanctuary has often resulted in animal straying into nearby settlements in Kishangarh and Khuda Ali Sher in the Union Territory of Chandigarh and in Kansal in the State of Punjab.

As per the master plan, the basic objective of the wildlife corridor is to provide connectivity of sanctuary and reserve forest so that animals from the forest area can move freely to wildlife sanctuary and vice-versa. At present, the Reserve Forest is separated from Wildlife Sanctuary by roads and agricultural land.

The Reserve Forest area is also prone to fire hazards especially in summer, due to which wild animals like Sambhar stray into city area and also onto the roads. If the wildlife corridor is established, the wild animals can in case of such fire hazards and other such emergencies, move into the area of wildlife sanctuary, the master plan stated.

The Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary habitat has a large number of Sambars, peacocks and endangered species like spotted deer, porcupine, pangolin, wild pigs, cheetal. The Lake Forest Reserve is also inhabited by Sambars and other animals.

Sambars, monkeys, snakes, pythons are often found to have strayed into the residential areas posing a risk to the human life.

The corridor project is also aimed at preventing unauthorized construction taking place in the area and to preserve and protect the wildlife in the Sanctuary

 Thematic plantation at acquired 50 acre land

On the acquired 50 acre land at village Kaimbwala, the Forest Department, Chandigarh has carried out thematic plantation of fruit bearing species in around 48 acre area while the rest of the two acre area, which already has the vegetation is being maintained as such.

Saplings of fruit bearing species namely Mango, Jamun, Guava, Shatoot, Neem, Pipal, Pilkhan, Dhek, Imli etc have been planted to improve the quality and bio-diversity of the vegetation in the Lake Reserve Forest behind Sukhna Lake. Availability of the food to the wildlife and monkeys in the area will be ensured by this plantation, the Chandigarh master plan stated.