Ministry of Road Transport and Highways takes all steps necessary for Wildlife protection as prescribed by National Board for Wildlife (NBWL). Major steps taken by the Ministry of Environment & Forest (which is the nodal Ministry for Wildlife Protection) to avoid such incidents are as follows:
- Ministry through its Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) namely ‘Project Tiger’, ‘Project Elephant’ and ‘Development of Wildlife Habitats (DWH)’ provides funds to States and UTs for carrying out various activities for habitat improvement works namely restoration of natural water bodies, creation of artificial ponds, waterholes, augmenting food/fodder sources at various places within Protected Areas to minimize the human animal conflict.
- Ministry has issued advisory to States/UTs for submission of proposals for diversion within the protected areas and Eco-sensitive Zones along with animal passage plan prepared on the basis of guidelines prepared by Wildlife Institute of India, namely, Eco-friendly Measures to Mitigate Impacts of Linear Infrastructure on Wildlife. The guidelines suggest for modifications in the designs of the linear infrastructures by way of providing eco-friendly structure which will ensure safe movement of wildlife across these linear infrastructures.
- A network of Protected Areas namely viz., National Park, Sanctuaries, Conservation Reserves and Community Reserves covering important wildlife habitat have been created all over the country under the provisions of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 to conserve wild animals and their habitats.
- Construction/erecting of physical barriers, such as barbed wire fence, solar powered electric fence, bio-fencing using cactus, boundary wall etc. to prevent the entry of wild animals into crop field.
- An advisory on handling human-wildlife conflict has been issued by the Ministry to all States on 06.02.2021 which suggests various measures that may be adopted by States for handling human-wildlife conflict. These include coordinated interdepartmental action, formation of State and district level committees, identification of conflict hot spots, adherence to Standard Operating Procedures, and establishment of rapid response teams.
Development activities on National Highways (NHs) passing through wild Life Sanctuaries / National Parks are generally avoided and wherever possible a bypass/detour is proposed so that there is minimum impact of highways on the wildlife habitat. If it is absolutely unavoidable then all necessary clearances required under statutory norms are obtained before any work is undertaken in such areas and measures are taken as per the manuals and guidelines of Forest and Wildlife Authorities and relevant IRC codes. The various measures that are taken include installation of road signs, speed calming measures, provision for construction of cattle/animal under pass (CUP/AUP) at pre-defined locations, fencing at the edge of Right of Way, etc.
Further, the available details of structures on NHs provided for safe passage of animals/wildlife are annexed as per Annexure.
Annexure
ANNEXURE REGARDING WILDLIFE FATALITIES ON NATIONAL HIGHWAYS.
Details of structures on National Highways provided for safe passage of animals/wildlife : –
| Sl. No. | Name of the Project | Details of Structures |
| 1. | Haridwar-Dehradun Section of NH-58 & 72 | 3-Elephant Underpasses at Lal Tappar, Teen Pani on NH-72 and Motichur on NH-58 |
| 2. | MP/MH-Seoni Section of NH-7 | 1400 meter elevated corridor, 500 meter 02 number, 300 meter 01 number, 120 meter 01 number and rest 10 number 100 meter to 30 meter. Noise barrier / anti light glare on all structures |
| 3. | MP/MH Border to Mansar Section of NH-7 | 3 Animal underpasses, 6 other structures, 15 Minor bridges and 66 Culverts. |
| 4. | Jammu-Udhampur Project | 4 tunnels (total length 1.78 km) and 4 viaducts in between tunnels |
| 5. | Chenani-Nashri Tunnel | 8.98 km tunnel and 1.91 km approaches in lieu of 41.00 km existing length |
| 6. | Quazigund – Banihal Tunnel | 8.45 km tunnels & 6.90 km approaches in lieu of existing length of 31.35 kms |
| 7. | Udhampur-Ramban | 1 tunnel of 900 meter of 2 lane |
| 8. | Ramban-Banihal | 6 tunnels of 2.967 km length |
| 9. | Dhule _Nashik Section of NH-3 (Anerdam Sanctuary) | 5.5 Km Realignment |
| 10. | Palanpur-Swaroopganj section of NH-14 (Old) New NH-27 | 03 underpasses and 10 box culvert |
| 11. | Kota Bypass | Cable stayed bridge of 1 km on National Chambal Sanctuary |
| 12. | Dholpur-Morena Section of NH-3 (Chambal Sanctuary) | Height and span of bridges increased from existing level, sound and light barrier on the structure. |
| 13. | Panvel-Indapur Section of NH-17 (Old) NH-66 (New) | 04 underpasses, 19 box culvert, Monkey Ladder |
| 14. | Gwalior-Shivpuri Section of NH-3 | Elevated corridor and under pass for the stretch of 5.5 km passing through wild life sanctuary |
| 15. | Gujarat-MP Borer to Indore Section of NH-59 | Underpass, fencing for 9.04 km passes through wild life sanctuary |
| 16. | Lumding Section of NH-54 (Lumding Reserve) | 02 Elephant passes and increase the length of 04 number of minor bridges, 02 number, Monkey ladders. |
| 17. | Kaithalghat-Shimla | 01 tunnel |
| 18. | Hapur-Garhmukteshwar Section of NH-24 | Underpass |
| 19. | 6-laning of Vadakkanchery – Thrissur section of NH-47 | Increase of length of 1 – Major bridge, Tunnel – 1.0 Km |
| 20. | Belgaum-Khanpur Section of NH-4A (Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary | 05 underpasses, Increase of dimension of culverts and bridges, noise and light barrier |
| 21. | Yamunanagar-Panchkula section of NH-73 | 2 ecoduct, fencing , increase of dimension of culverts and bridges, noise barrier |
| 22. | Aurangabad-Barwa Adda Section of NH-2 (Gautam Buddha Wildlife Sanctuary) | 9 water tanks, bore well, underpass |
| 23. | Gujarat/MH Border to Jalgaon section of NH-6 | Underpass, monkey ladder, fencing, increase of dimension of culverts and bridges, noise barrier |
| 24. | Cuttak-Angul section of NH-42 | Underpass, fencing, increase of dimension of culverts and bridges, |
| 25. | Panikuli -Rimuli- section of NH-215 | 06 Underpasses, fencing, increase of dimension of culverts and bridges, |
| 26. | Rimuli-Rajamunda section of NH-215 | 02 Underpasses, fencing, increase of dimension of culverts and bridges, |
| 27. | Agra-Bharatpur Sec of NH-11 | Underpass, fencing, water resources for birds, noise barrier |
| 28. | Uncha Nagla Dholpur Sec of NH-123 | Underpass, fencing, increase of dimension of culverts and bridges |
| 29. | Chhatrishgarh/MH Boarder –Wainganga Bridge of NH-6 | 3 Underpasses, fencing, increase of dimension of culverts and bridges |
| 30. | Four Laning of Solapur – Bijapur section of NH-13 | 03 underpasses |
| 31. | Ganeshpur-Dehradun NH-72A | 4 underpasses, 11.6 km elevated corridor, 360 m tunnel. Sound and light barrier on all structures. |
| 32. | Haridwar-Nagina | 5 underpasses, elevated corridor, increase in height of bridges and light/sound barrier. |
| 33. | Delhi-Vadodara Expressway in Rajasthan NH-148N | 2.7 km elevated corridor.5 animal underpasses3.9 km cut-cover700 meter bridge at NCS4.9 km tunnel width 450 meter cut-cover |
| 34. | VME phase II | 2 Land Bridge/ Animal overpass38 Dedicated Animal Crossing50 Small Vehicular/ Animal Underpasses |
| 35. | SPUR of VME | 2 Land Bridge/ Animal overpass.53 Dedicate Animal Crossing.33 Small Vehicular/ Animal Underpasses |
| 36. | NH 347BG- Indore to Balwara | 2 tunnel, 4 viaduct having length of 1590 meter for animal crossing.Increase in length of 4 nos. Major bridges |
| 37. | Heron River to Sindur section NH-12 | 03 underpasss, 01 elevated corridor, increasing the length of box culvert |
| 38. | 4-laning of 12 km stretch in Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary | Elevated corridor, underpasses and increasing the dimension of box culvert |
| 39. | Ranchi-Jamshedpur section | 07 underpasses |
| 40. | Raipur-Vishakhpatnam in Chhatisgarh | 2.79 km tunnel, 27 underpasses, Monkey ladder 17 |
| 41. | Raipur-Vishakhpatnam in Orissa | Total length of 02 tunnel (6.29 km), 14 underpasses, Monkey ladder 17 |
| 42. | Raipur-Vishakhpatnam in Andhra Pradesh | 03 Viaduct cum elephant underpasses |
| 43. | Mancherial to Telangana/Maharashtra Border | 02 underpasses |
| 44. | Nagpur- Umred Bhiwapur | Elevated corridor |
| 45. | Bangalaore Hasan to Mangalore NH-75 | 02 underpasses |
| 46. | Bangalore-Mysore Madikeri -Mangalore NH-275 | 02 underpasses, 03 overpasses (ecoduct) |
| 47. | Chitradugra-hospet-Bijapur NH-50 | 05 underpasses |
| 48. | Tumkur to Shivamogga NH-206 | 07 underpasses |
| 49. | Khammam to Mangalore NH-565 | Increase of dimension of box culvert |
| 50. | Jamunanagar to Panchkula | 02 underpasses |
| 51. | Riva to Jabalpur Section | 05 underpasses |
| 52. | Itarsi Betul | 05 underpasses, elevated corridor, overpass/ ecoduct |
| 53. | Gawalior Shivpuri Section | 09 underpasses and elevated corridor |
| 54. | Ahmedabad-Bhavnagar NH-751 | 1340 elevated corridor and 03 underpasses |
| 55. | Sanchore to Santalpur | 01 elevated corridor and 12 underpasses |
| 56. | Bhavnagar-Somnath Dwarka | 10 underpasses |
| 57. | Sawaimadhopur-Sheopur | 09 underpasses |
| 58. | Udaipur-Ajmer Section New NH-58 | 13 underpasses |
| 59. | Ambikapur-Bilaspur | 08 underpasses |
| 60. | Kawardha–Raipur New NH-30 | 06 underpasses |
| 61. | Varanasi-Kolkata in Jharkhand | Total 82 number of structures in Jharkhand (elevated corridor, underpass, viaduct increase in length of minor and major bridge) |
| 62. | Varanasi-Kolkata in Bihar | Tunnel and elevated corridor |
| 63. | Delhi-Katra in Punjab | Increase of length of major bridge with longer span and viaduct |
| 64. | Bangalore-Vijayawada | Tunnel elevated corridor and underpasses |
| 65. | Dimapur Bypass(Nagaland Portion) | 2 Number of Cattle underpasses |
| 66. | Dimapur Bypass(Assam Portion) | 2 Number of Cattle underpasses2 Number of Elephant underpasses |
| 67. | Ranathambore Wildlife sanctuary on NH-552 | 8 animal underpasses |
This information was given by the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
