Study conducted, recommendation filed, may pave way for Delhi’s 1st wildlife corridor

The state forest department has conducted a feasibility survey and submitted a recommendation for what could be the national capital’s first wildlife corridor, to be built at the southern border of the Asola Bhati Wildlife sanctuary on the Surajkund-Pali Road, to ensure a safe passage for movement of wild animals

The state forest department has conducted a feasibility survey and submitted a recommendation for what could be the national capital’s first wildlife corridor, to be built at the southern border of the Asola Bhati Wildlife sanctuary on the Surajkund-Pali Road, to ensure a safe passage for movement of wild animals.

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The move comes after a two-year-old female leopard was mowed down by a vehicle on the stretch at the Delhi-Haryana border on June 28 — the fourth such incident over the past five years, said officials of the forest department.

Soon after the leopard was killed, the department took up the matter with its Haryana counterparts, who have also agreed to the need for a wildlife corridor to protect the fauna as well as allow them free movement from one habitat to another.

“We sought the views of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), which has experience in tunnelling work across the Capital. We requested them to conduct a feasibility survey to create a safe passage for movement of wild animals on the small stretch of the Surajkund-Pali road falling under the jurisdiction of Delhi. The DMRC has suggested constructing of an underpass for animals,” said a senior forest official, who did not wish to be named.

A recommendation for the same has been submitted to the Delhi chief wildlife warden for consideration.

“Proving a safe passage for animals here is crucial, as it is a blind curve and in spite of signages and road bumps erected on the road to control speed of motorists, they end up running into an accident. Also, since the topography of the area is such that this road is on an elevation and there is a depression on both sides making it difficult even for animals to navigate their way. Reaching the blind curve, they cannot see the other side and neither can the motorists. If the road is straight, animals can see and remain alert. So, we have recommended constructing of an underpass for safe and free movement of the wild species,” the official said.

According to officials, Delhi has a number of fragmented protected forest areas but no one safe path connecting them all, which does not allow free movement of animals. In case of species such as nilgais straying, it is always because they cannot find any way to move to another habitat except for crossing over the main road thus leading to accidents.

Another official explained that movement of animals from one habitat to another for food and water is crucial to existence of healthy forest areas. “Even herbivores need to keep moving from one area to another, which allows revival of the area’s ecology,” the second official said.

He added that there are three major stretches with heavy traffic movement around the sanctuary ---Surajkund-Faridabad Road, Gurgaon-Faridabad Road and Mehrauli-Badarpur Road. Another road connecting Chhatarpur in south Delhi to Mangar village in Faridabad cuts through the sanctuary.

“There are certain features such as sufficient width and safe concealing of the passage that would need to be take care of to make it smooth enough to be used by animals for their movement,” he said.

Experts say that creating a safe passage for wild animals is crucial in urban settings, as there is a higher risk of accidents because of the traffic volume. The Surajkund-Pali road is part of the leopard corridor from Asola wildlife sanctuary to Sariska National Park in Alwar, Rajasthan.

Sohail Madan, centre manager of the Conservation Education Centre at the Asola sanctuary, maintained by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), who has been studying leopards in this corridor, said that there are three such accident-prone areas close to Asola. “It is extremely crucial to have a corridor for wild animals at such spots. Besides tunneling, other alternatives such as lifting the vehicular traffic up by making the road elevated and leaving the stretch under for movement of animals could also be looked into before the plan is finalised,” said Madan.

He added that creating corridors alone is not enough, as most of this area except for the Asola sanctuary is not protected from other sides falling under Haryana. “It is of utmost importance to protect the green patches such as Mangar Bani forest with a great amount of biodiversity, to be protected under the law and be declared as sanctuaries or reserved areas. Without protecting these areas, just creating the corridor will still leave a major threat to the wildlife,” said Madan.