Part of proposed stone crusher unit in Rajaji park ESZ falls in River Song’s floodplain: WII tells NGT | India News - The Indian Express

The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has submitted in a report before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that a part of a stone crusher unit proposed in Rajaji Tiger Reserve’s eco-sensitive zone , Dehradun, falls in River Song’s active floodplain area which sees regular elephant movements.

The NGT’s principal bench was hearing a plea filed by a group of residents from Dehradun, who have sought quashing of permits granted for the proposed stone crusher unit, stating that no wildlife clearance was obtained for the project. The environmental clearance granted for the project, proposed to be run by M/S Balaji Associates, stated that it was subject to obtaining wildlife clearance. The Tribunal granted four weeks to the project proponent to respond to the plea as well as the WII report.

In July, the NGT had admitted the case and served notices to the Uttarakhand government, its forest department, the project proponent and WII.

WII is an autonomous institute under the Union Environment Ministry. In response to the NGT’s notice, WII said in its report dated August 16 that the river is used by elephants and other wildlife to access the Lal Thappar and Teen Pani elephant corridors.

“Both of these corridors are crucial to facilitate elephant movement in an otherwise disjunct forest mosaic in the western portion of Rajaji National Park and adjoining Dehradun Forest Division,” the WII report said.

Further, the WII noted that human-elephant conflicts in the form of crop damage and occasional property damage due to elephants were reported from Banwaha, Fatehpur, Majri forest beats, which are located near the proposed crusher plant.

During a field visit on August 7, a WII team also found an elephant dung pile at the edge of Kansrao reserved forest, which is 380 m from the proposed stone crusher site, the report stated.

According to the maps attached with the WII report, the proposed crusher unit is located near Banwaha, Fatehpur and Majri forest beats which have witnessed human-elephant conflicts. “The proposed stone crusher is located in the Song River floodplain, 0.5 km from the Kansrao reserve forest, 1 km from Lachhiwala reserve forest and 2.5 km from Barkot reserve forest. A total of 36 human casualties (15 deaths and 21 injury cases) attributed to elephants were reported from Badkot and Lachhiwala administrative ranges (Dehradun forest division) from the year 2000 to 2018,” the WII report stated.

WII’s report added that elephant movement occurs along the riparian tracts of major raus (seasonal streams) and rivers such as the Song and some of its tributaries. The WII called for judicious riverfront management and said that major riverfront modification and chronic anthropogenic disturbances in the vital stretches of River Song could be inimical to elephants and other threatened wildlife in the long-term.

An award-winning journalist with 14 years of experience, Nikhil Ghanekar is an Assistant Editor with the National Bureau [Government] of The Indian Express in New Delhi. He primarily covers environmental policy matters which involve tracking key decisions and inner workings of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. He also covers the functioning of the National Green Tribunal and writes on the impact of environmental policies on wildlife conservation, forestry issues and climate change.Nikhil joined The Indian Express in 2024. Originally from Mumbai, he has worked in publications such as Tehelka, Hindustan Times, DNA Newspaper, News18 and Indiaspend. In the past 14 years, he has written on a range of subjects such as sports, current affairs, civic issues, city centric environment news, central government policies and politics. ... Read More

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