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Environment Ministry gets into the act in Corbett
- AJAY SURI
NEW DELHI, MARCH 27
After chopping down 7,000 trees in the Corbett Tiger Reserve and doing precious little to nab the poachers who killed five tuskers, the Uttaranchal Government has done the expected: the park's field director P.C. Joshi and deputy director Kapil Joshi have been shown the door. And though it may be late in the day, the Union Environment
Ministry has intervened decisively by stalling the construction of a road by
Uttaranchal government right through the heart of the reserve.
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Union Environment Secretary
P.V. Jaykrishnan, who persuaded Uttaranchal chief secretary Ajay Vikram to stop the construction of the road from Kalagarh to
Ramnagar, has called an urgent meeting of UP and Uttaranchal officials to sort out the Corbett's mess. ``Corbett is one of the finest parks in the country. It will be stupid to have a road in its midst. Right now, we have stopped the Uttaranchal Government from going ahead with the project, but there are many other things to do,'' Jaikrishnan told The Indian Express.
However, brushing aside environmentalists' outcry, the Uttaranchal government till two days ago was going ahead full-steam with the road. The felling of trees was continuing (already 7,000 have been axed) and contractors alongwith their labour had pitched camps in the area teeming with animals including tigers, elephants and deer.
Laments Brijendra Singh, the park's honorary wildllife warden and a member of Project Tiger steering committee: ``It's an ill-planned project which will be disastrous to Corbett's rich wildlife.''
The plan being worked about by the Environment Ministry entails construction of a parallel road outside the periphery of the reserve. But as the land there belongs to UP, efforts are on to obtain its necessary sanction.
Sources in the Ministry, however, point out that the work of relocation of road is easier planned than executed. There is big money in the project,and a number of contractors with right political connection are already in the thick of things. ``Leaving the rich flora and fauna at the tender mercies of contractors, who will have a field day in the park, carries its own risks. Everybody knows what the real cost of the exercise will be. There are too many vested interests involved, perhaps the very reason why the Uttaranchal Government did not think of making a bypass road and decide on riding roughshod over its own showcase to the world tourists,'' they say.
The road through Corbett highlights another incongruity: even as the State
Government goes along merrily with the project, it has been busy relocating villages on the southern edge of the park, near
Laldhang, so as to minimise pressure on the wildlife.
Jaikrishnan recognises the ``administrative problems'' being faced by the Uttaranchal Government in relocating the road. ``We have told them the Central Government is willing to extend all possible assistance. But certainly we cannot compromise on the uniqueness of Corbett.'' he
emphasised.
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