Human intrusions have left animals nowhere to go, but wildlife corridors have emerged as a ray of hope for the wild animals. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to build a one-kilometer long flyover solely to provide safe passage and migrations routes to elephants.
Presently, the elephant tracker teams of the Forest and Environment Department restrict the vehicular traffic from both sides of the national highway-55, which is between Cuttack and Sambalpur, whenever the elephant herds are about to cross.
Image: Sangram Govardhane/ WTI
Ram Prasad Panda, Chief General Manager, NHAI, and Odisha said that the flyover for elephants will be made between Rairakhol and Sambalpur. Vehicular traffic will move on to the flyover while elephants will take their traditional path underneath the edifice.
Another flyover has been proposed for elephants between Pallahara and Keonjhar that will be 532-meter-long. A total of twelve underpasses have been proposed for elephants between the Cuttack and Angul stretch of NH-55, including 29 underpasses for reptiles in the section.
Biswajit Mohanty of Wildlife Society of Orissa (WSO) mentioned;
We have long been highlighting the issue of fragmentation of elephant corridors due to various developmental projects. A few years ago, elephant underpasses were created between Panikoili and Rajamunda along NH-215.
Urbanization, expanding farmlands and deforestation are reasons causing distress to the wildlife. Therefore, natural corridors are one of the apt but temporary solutions to the ongoing wild suffering.
Via: The Hindu