How the Kaziranga Elevated Corridor aims to curb animal deaths in the National Park

In October this year, the Union government’s Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the widening of a two-lane 86.675-km stretch of this highway to four lanes. A major part of this stretch passes along the boundary of the park or through it, and the approved project involves the construction of a 34.5-km elevated corridor, leaving an area underneath for the cross-movement of animals from the national park to the Karbi Anglong Hills.

According to the government, this will involve upgrading 30.22 km of existing roads and constructing 21 km of greenfield bypasses around the towns of Jakhalabandha and Bokakhat, and aims to “decongest the existing corridor, improve safety, and enhance the direct connectivity” between Guwahati, Kaziranga National Park, and the industrial town of Numaligarh.

Increased human traffic poses a threat

The national highway and the traffic passing through it pose one of the major threats to wildlife in the national park.

According to Dr Rathin Barman, Director of Wildlife Trust of India, the wider landscape of the region — from the low-lying Brahmaputra floodplains, wetlands and grasslands to the highlands of Karbi Anglong — is the natural habitat of many animals.

“The Kaziranga boundary is defined by humans, not animals. And when floods occur and submerge large parts of the national park, which is a natural phenomenon, animals move south to the highlands and later come back down when the floods recede. But now, because of development, we have the highway and human habitations in the area, which have disrupted this natural passage,” he said.

Attempts by animals to cross this busy highway, which has an average daily traffic of 13,800 passenger cars this financial year, can be deadly.

A Gauhati University research team, comprising Zoology Department faculty members Prasanta Kumar Saikia and Malabika Kakati Saikia, as well as research scholar Somoyita Sur, had in 2022 studied the roadkill mortality on this stretch of NH-715 between October 2016 and September 2017. It recorded 6,036 individual animals killed in collisions with vehicles during this period, including an Indian leopard, of which 63.6% occurred during the flooding period of April to September.

The study said, “The major factor contributing to these roadkills is the high speed of the vehicles. Thus, the reduction of speed should be managed, along with proper mitigation designs for the safe movement and existence of all animals… [W]e need not put a stop to development but rather incorporate proper and eco-friendly designs and innovations in tandem with it, in order to reduce vehicular collisions in intrusions within any protected area.”

According to Kaziranga Divisional Forest Officer Arun Vignesh, the problem was only growing with time.

“The traffic on the road passing through the Karbi Anglong-Kaziranga landscape is increasing day by day. It is the continuous movement of vehicles that is blocking this passage. So, we are in a time in which we need to find a passage for these animals, which can be managed if we ensure the movement of heavier traffic through the elevated road,” he said.

Safeguarding the animals of the park

The DFO said there have been interventions to try to control this problem with the existing infrastructure. “We have animal sensor systems in six stretches identified as major crossing areas, which alert us if the animals move close to the highway. When this happens, the traffic is immediately regulated on the stretch. But this is a limited intervention,” he said.

There have been concerns voiced by some activists that the construction activity required to implement a project of this scale in such a sensitive zone will itself be a major source of disturbance to the wildlife in the area.

However, Dr Barman from the WTI said he believed the overpass could be “a permanent solution” to a long-standing problem. “With measures focusing on minimising the disturbance during the construction, this can be a permanent solution to a problem that I have seen in the 30 years that I have been in this field. Since traffic has been increasing, this problem had only been growing. This is a crucial roadway, and since we cannot deny development, there has to be a way to take development and conservation hand-in-hand,” he said.

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