NGT stays construction of road inside Assam’s Barak Bhuban Wildlife Sanctuary

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered a stay on construction of a road inside the Barak Bhuban Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam’s Cachar district.

The order was issued last week by the Kolkata bench of NGT comprising judicial member B Amit Sthalekar and expert member Arun Kumar Verma in response to an application filed in August by Pradeep Singh Shekhawat, a resident of Jaipur in Rajasthan, alleging illegal construction of a road leading to Bhuban Hill inside the sanctuary.

“Considering the allegations made, as an interim measure, we provide that unless and until there is sanction from the central government as required under Section 2 of Forest (Conservation) Act 1980, no construction shall be permitted within the Barak Bhuban Wildlife Sanctuary during the pendency of the present original application,” said the order issued on September 19.

Stating that the road in question was constructed without the required permission from the central government, the applicant in an interlocutory application had sought a stay on illegal constructions inside the wildlife sanctuary and setting up of a committee to assess the extent of illegal diversion of forest land inside the sanctuary.

In its order the NGT bench issued notices to all respondents—Assam government, Assam Forest department, special chief secretary (forests) MK Yadava, Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change and deputy commissioner of Cachar, asking them to file counter-affidavits within four weeks. The next date of hearing is December 6.

In his application, Shekhawat, had alleged that 15 hectares of forest land inside the wildlife sanctuary had been diverted illegally to construct the road leading to the top of Bhuban Hill. The application alleged that permission for the same was given by MK Yadava, who was then the principal chief conservator of forests (PCCP) and now posted as the special chief secretary (forest).

The application stated that since Yadava illegally diverted forest land without following statutory requirements he should be held “personally liable for compensating and restoring the damage done to the forest”.

Incidentally, this is the third such case against Yadava pending in NGT. The two earlier ones are related to construction of a commando battalion inside protected forest in Barak Valley by diverting 44 hectares of forest land and another construction of a second commando battalion in the Geleky Reserve Forest on Assam-Nagaland border.

Spread over an area of 320 sq km between the Barak and Sonai rivers, the Assam government had approved creation of the Barak Bhuban Wildlife Sancturary in July 2022. The sanctuary has eight recorded species of primates and is an important habitat for the king cobra snake.