HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, Oct 22: The much-awaited elevated corridor in Assam’s Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve got the centre’s nod and the central government has approved the alignment for this work, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Tuesday.
Moreover, the detailed project report (DPR) for a proposed underwater tunnel in the Brahmaputra River is also near completion, the chief minister further said.
Related Posts:
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 kilometer 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.
Sarma attended a review meeting with Union road transport 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 Gadkari to expedite the whole process.
Moreover, Sarma said in a post on X, “Today in New Delhi, I had the privilege of attending a review meeting led by Hon’ble Union Minister Shri @nitin_gadkari ji, focused on the development of 1001 kms of highway projects in Assam. Our collective priority remains the timely completion of 57 critical National Highway projects across various implementing agencies.”
He mentioned that Gadkari was requested to expedite key projects including the Jorhat-Dibrugarh highway, and Kaziranga elevated corridor where alignment was approved.
The chief minister further said that the detailed project report of an underwater tunnel in the Brahmaputra River is near completion and the re-tendering process of the bridge over Brahmaputra connecting River island Majuli is under process.
According to Sarma, more than 25,000 crores of road infrastructure projects are going on in Assam.
“Today’s review meeting with Hon’ble Union Minister Shri @nitin_gadkari
ji was fruitful as it brought all stakeholders together. ₹25,347cr road infra projects for Assam are in the pipeline,” he added.
Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal and MPs from Assam also attended the meeting.
Notably, as per a report by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), at least 1,176 animals were killed on the highway due to the absence of a dedicated animal corridor. A separate study conducted by the Gauhati University, six thousand fatal animal incidents happened 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.
