Army road threatens Neora Valley wildlife

JALPAIGURI: After a rail link, a road - being planned by the Indian Army - is threatening the rich wildlife of north Bengal.

The road, if constructed, would pass through three major forested areas of the region - Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary, Neora Valley National Park and Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary - resulting in a mammoth loss of green vegetation that will also hit the rich wildlife of the region. The road will also intersect one of the main elephant corridors of the region, the Chapramari-Panjhora-Hilajhora-Gorumara National Park corridor shrinking the routes for the elephants which they have been using conventionally since years.

The Indian Army is keen to construct this new road through Khunia More, on NH-31C in Jalpaiguri district, Kumani, Todey, Tangta, Rachella and Sikkim's Aritar for a better access to the NE state accessibility of the region keeping in mind the infrastructural development that China is carrying out on the other side of the Sino-Indian border. But what the Defence Ministry is overlooking is that the road will ensure security to the nation at the cost of the country's national treasure in the forms of lush flora, fauna and rich wildlife.

Not only this, the proposed road will cut across whole of the Neora Valley NP from east to west. Forests here area of these areas comprise the catchments and watershed of the Neora river and its tributaries. Neora river is originating from the Rachella block. It originates from Rock strata.

If the catchment of Neora river is disturbed, in near future there will be an acute scarcity of water in the towns, army establishments, and its surrounding rural areas. Besides, any disturbance in forests will hit the watershed of Teesta and catchment of Neora river which will impact the habitat of the whole of Neora Valley. This, experts feel, may lead to complete change of vegetation and extinction of many threatened, rare and endangered species of wild lives, flora and fauna.

Located in the Algara block of Kalimpong subdivision in Darjeeling district, the Neora Valley National Park is a virgin forest spread over 88 sq km area in the Himalayas ranging from 600 ft to 10600 ft. With a very thick vegetation of Oak, Sal, Rhododendron, malling bamboo and ferns, the Neora Valley proudly houses some of the endangered species of the world, including the Bengal tigers, red pandas, clouded leopards, Himalayan black bears, sloth bear, Himalayan thar, serrow, gural and several lesser cats.

Owing to the uniqueness of this forest, it has been proposed to be included under World Heritage Site.

If the proposed road is constructed, it will cut through the core area of the Neora Valley from Tangta to Zero Point in Rachella traversing a distance of some 30 kilometres taking a toll on the vegetation spread over 200 hectares. In addition to this, the road will also result in deforestation of green cover in Chapramari and Pangolakha (Sikkim).

"This will have a massive impact on the natural habitat of animals like tiger, red panda, Himalayan black bear and clouded leopard. In a world where their number is shrinking every day, Neora Valley is like a paradise for these Schedule-I animals. The Indian Army should realize this. And secondly, if the water source of the Neora river is disturbed, the entire park will be destroyed in no time. The Army officials should construct a road parallel to the proposed route bypassing the forestland. Protecting the nation's assets is also a duty of the Army," argued Mousumi Dutta, a member of Society for Preservation and Awareness of Wildlife & Nature (SPAWN).

In a meeting with the Indian Army, the forest department of West Bengal had proposed two alternative alignments to the Army for their consideration. The first one is using a route through Bagrakot, Chunabhati, Chuikhim, Lolegaon, Lava, Algarah, Pedong and Aritar. The other alternative route proposed is the one through and the other one being ---- Damdim, Gorubathan, Ambiok, Lava, Kolbong, Kolakham, Chhagey, Lingsakha and Aritar. Both these roads connect north Bengal with Sikkim but don't cut through any forest land bypasses the forest lands.

"Both these roads will avoid the forest land to reach Sikkim. Thus both the interests - national security and conservation of forest - will be secured," said N C Bahuguna, the head of forest force. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wild Life).

According to sources, the entire stretch of both the proposed alignments already exist except for a small patch of about 2-3 km at Chhagey to Aritar which has to be constructed. The entire stretch of the road from Kolbong Chhagey to Aritar will pass through Khasmahal area without disturbing any forest areas.

The Army is yet to get NOC for the said project, but environmentalists fear that if the state fails to put pressure on the Army, they might get the required clearance.

via Times of India

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