New Delhi, Oct 22: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Tuesday that the elevated corridor in the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve received the Centre’s go-ahead, and alignment for this is already approved by the Union government.
To avoid the high number of fatal incidents animals were facing in Kaziranga National Park, the Assam government has earlier proposed to build a 32-km elevated road over nine animal corridors of the park.
The four-lane project, which will cost Rs 6,000 crore to build, will follow an existing arterial roadway. Chief Minister Sarma attended a meeting with the Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari in the national capital earlier on Tuesday.
The development of key national highway projects across the state was discussed in the meeting and following that the Chief Minister said that the alignment work for the proposed elevated corridor in Kaziranga is already approved and he has requested Union Minister Gadkari to expedite the whole process.
Moreover, Sarma said in an X post, “Today in New Delhi, I had the privilege of attending a review meeting led by Union Minister @nitin_gadkariji, focused on the development of 1,001 km of highway projects in Assam. Our collective priority remains the timely completion of 57 critical National Highway projects across various implementing agencies.”
He added that Union Minister Gadkari was requested to expedite key projects, including the Jorhat-Dibrugarh Highway, and Kaziranga elevated corridor where alignment was approved. Chief Minister Sarma also said that the detailed project report of an underwater tunnel in the Brahmaputra River is nearly complete and the re-tendering process of the bridge over the Brahmaputra connecting the river island Majuli is under process.
According to CM Sarma, more than 25,000 crore road infrastructure projects are underway in Assam. “Today’s review meeting with Union Minister @nitin_gadkariji was fruitful as it brought all stakeholders together. As many as Rs 25,347 crore road infrastructure projects for Assam are in the pipeline,” he added.
Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and MPs from Assam also attended the meeting. As per a report by the Wildlife Institute of India, at least 1,176 animals were killed on the highway due to the absence of a dedicated animal corridor.
In a separate study conducted by Gauhati University, 6,000 fatal animal incidents occurred at this stretch where an elevated corridor is coming up. During monsoon floods which is an annual occurrence at the Kaziranga National Park, animals often flee to Karbi Anglong hills, at the south of the park crossing the national highway. At that time, many animals were rammed by speedily moving vehicles. CM Sarma claimed that the elevated corridor once built will wipe out the threat of road accident-related deaths to wild animals.
IANS