Priorities for Kaziranga

The Kaziranga National Park being located in the flood plains of the Brahmaputra, recurring waves of flood are an annual phenomenon. Highlands in Kaziranga provide shelter to some of the flood-affected animals. However, the problem of park animals getting killed in vehicle-hit during floods has remained unsolved. This year 17 park animals have died so far in incidents of vehicle-hit. To curb death of park animals in vehicle-hit, the Assam government decided to construct an elevated road with flyovers and animal overpasses stretching over 39-km length from Kohora in the East and Jakhalabandha in the West. The 11-metre-wide elevated road and flyover will have two animal overpass and two arboreal crossings for primates. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 2625 crore. The project is long overdue and further delay would add to the cumulative tally of Kaziranga animals killed in vehicle-hit. The park authorities impose speed limit during floods but fails to enforce it. Several hundreds of animals die every year in Kaziranga, most of them by drowning during high flood situation and some due to vehicle-hit. Altogether 152 of the total 223 camps have been inundated, five camps have been vacated in the three waves of floods since May 22. The floods in the world heritage site has so far left 123 park animals including 12 rhinos dead while 152 animals have been rescued. Of the total 223 camps manned by frontline staff engaged in protecting the park animals from poachers 152 have been inundated while five camps had to be vacated. Construction of 33 new highlands last year provided new shelter places within the park. However, the number of highlands sheltering the animals has to remain limited and cannot be built all over park area as it would be detrimental to the landscape and eco-system. When the park gets submerged in annual flooding the animals migrate in large numbers towards the foothills of Karbi Anglong for food and shelter. Floods replenish the floodplain and wetlands inside the heritage site. Floods, therefore, are also needed to for the nature to carry on with its own management system in the protected area. The animals need to cross the national highway 37 passing through park landscape and in the process many animals die after being hit by speeding vehicles. The Central government should ensure that availability of the required fund for the project does not pose a roadblock in its implementation. The Environment and Forest Department needs to pursue with the Public Works Department to push the ambitious project. Putting the project high on the priority lists of both the departments for monitoring the progress at regular and frequent intervals will fast track it. Keeping the public informed about the project details is necessary to enlist their cooperation. Funnelling the park animals toward the overpass will require elaborate management. Finding a perfect management system requires wide consultation with wildlife biologists and other experts and demands complete transparency in implementation of the project. Experts working on Kaziranga biodiversity managements are still clueless about the actual status of the project. Both the departments concerned should put in place effective mechanism to apprise the experts on various stages project and hold consultations to rule out shortcomings. Besides, protecting the park animals the project will also be and added attraction to the visitors from the world over. The river Brahmaputra has been causing severe erosion of park areas, which, if not abated effectively could cause severe space crunch for park animals. Solutions to Kaziranga cannot be similar to solutions to other erosion-affected areas of the state. The anti-erosion measures in Kaziranaga has to ensure that the nature's own way of replenishing the park areas is not disrupted by any structural solutions. Conservation of forests in Karbi Anglong hills facing the park is also critical to sustenance of the foothills as a safe place for flood-affected animals to migrate and take shelter. As soon as water recedes the animals return to grassland areas of the park and need to cross the highway again. The proposed elevated road with animal overpass will reduce incidents of vehicle-hit. Animal movement across the highway takes place not just during floods. There are four designated animal corridors over the highway- Panbari, Haldhibari, Kanchanjuri and Burapahar. A large number of commercial establishments, roadside eateries, resorts, parking lots for heavy vehicles pose barriers for the animals to use these corridors to migrate from the floodplains of the park to highlands along the highway and the foothills across. Illegal stone quarrying in Karbi Anglong hills within the eco-sensitive zone of the park has led to forest degradation in Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong landscape. Conservation of this landscape is critical to protection of Kaziranga elephants besides rhino, tiger, and other animals. Scripting conservation success story is difficult. Sustaining the success story is a tougher challenge.