BENGALURU: An illegal road project inside the Dandeli Sanctuary has been stopped by forest officials, however, only after wildlife activists filed objections.While activists say the 8 km road work was quietly taken up to provide connectivity to the canopy walk as the connectivity is very bad and tourists have complained, forest officials said the road upgradation work, which was taken up by PWD to help a village in Kuveshi, has been stopped.
Earlier, in April, the PWD had asphalted a section of 8 kilometres from Kunigini-Kuveshi, which is basically a mud road. However, the asphalted portion was completely washed off in the intervening period due to heavy monsoon. So, in early November, they once again took up the work without having any permission.
A wildlife activist from Dandeli said, “The road execution work clearly violated the recommendations of the Sub Committee on Guidelines for Roads in Protected Areas issued by MoEF in 2014. The guideline mandates that the status quo of the roads passing through sanctuaries remains the same and no upgradation is allowed. The asphalting of roads in sanctuaries can be considered only with prior approval from State and National Board for Wildlife. Moreover, no new roads shall be proposed in National Parks and Sanctuaries.”
Speaking to TNIE, Shivanand Todkar, assistant conservator of forests, Kumbarwada Wildlife Sub division said, “We stopped the road works once it came to our notice. The PWD was maybe trying to upgrade the mud road to help the villagers here. However, initiating action, our RFO sent a notice to the user agency and halted the works.”
Canopy Walk issue
Activists add, “The shocking part is — Kuveshi road leads to the canopy walk. Even this project was halted as it did not have mandatory approvals. However, both the forest department and tiger authority stepped in to give approval saying the route from Castlerock to Doodhsagar via Kuveshi is already open for trekking and is mentioned in the Eco Tourism Chapter. But, now you can see the after effects of this project.”Deriding the earlier approvals, activists opined, “If the canopy walk project had been shelved, the road upgradation would not have been necessary. If you allow one project, it may lead to another.”