Decks cleared for NNTR road corridor in Nagpur

Decks have finally been cleared for the Navegaon Nagzira Tiger Reserve (NNTR) road corridor on NH6 (NH53) running between Sakoli and Deori in Nagpur with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) starting work by taking up work on 11km long forest patches where five animal underpasses will be constructed. The corridor connects Melghat, Satpura, Pench, Kanha, Navegaon-Nagzira, Indravati, and Tadoba-Andhari tiger reserves and the ₹361-crore project has been awarded to a joint venture of Agrawal Global Infratech Private Limited and SMS Limited. The director at NHAI, Naresh Wadetwar informed that tree felling in the first section between Sirpur-Navatola has been completed and in other sections between Maramjob-Dongargaon, Bamhni-Duggipar, and Sakoli-Mundipar is nearing completion. Over 50.68 hectares of forest land will be diverted for the project and of the 10 structures, there will be five underpasses for wildlife. The underpasses will be 690, 238, 814, 773 & 742 metres long with a height of 5 metres. Besides, there will be 4 light vehicle underpasses (LVUP) and one small vehicular underpass (SVUP). The spots where underpasses will be built include Sirpur-Navatola, Maramjob-Dongargaon, Bamhni Duggipar, and Sakoli-Mundipar. The mitigation measures are only due to the intervention of civil society organizations since 2008 in various forums such as the apex court’s Central Empowered Committee (CEC) and the high court bench at Nagpur.