Roads to be Built Along Indo-Nepal Border in UP to Connect SSB Outposts

Bahraich (UP), (PTI) Roads will be constructed in forests along the Indo-Nepal border in Uttar Pradesh to connect all Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) outposts parallel to ”No Man”s Land” as per a Union home ministry order, a senior forest official said on Wednesday.

To keep traffic away from forests, 10-meters high flyovers will be built and roads constructed by acquiring ”gram samaj” land adjoining the forests, said Akash Deep Badhawan, divisional forest officer, Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary.

The Union home ministry has given instructions to build roads in forest areas parallel to the Indo-Nepal border in ”No Man”s Land”. These roads, which are to be built keeping in mind the security of the nation, will pass through all the border posts of SSB bordering Nepal, Badhawan said.

Along India”s 551-km border with Nepal in Uttar Pradesh, there are 16 border outposts of the SSB in the Katarniaghat forest, he said.

He added that 45 hectares of the forest area of Katarniaghat division of Bahraich and 138 hectares of Sohelwa forest of Balrampur besides hundreds of hectares of the forest and the surrounding land would be used for constructing roads.

Badhawan said roads will also be built in ”Khata Corridor” that connects the Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary and Nepal”s Royal Bardia National Park.

The rare one-horned Indian rhinoceros, wild elephants, tigers, leopards, black-spotted deer, white-spotted deer, Siberian birds and vultures are found in the ”Khata Corridor”, which is of special importance for both countries.

The DFO said elevated flyovers have been made on the roads passing through the Kanha and Panna National Park in Madhya Pradesh and the Delhi-Meerut Dehradun Expressway. Now, there is a plan to build such flyovers in the Terai forests of Uttar Pradesh as well.

The aim of the government is that wildlife can move freely under these flyovers and at the same time, security personnel, paramilitary forces and forest personnel can undertake uninterrupted patrolling on the flyovers, Badhawan said.

In order to reduce the possible environmental impact of vehicular and public movement during and after road construction, the central government has sent a high-powered committee comprising experts from the Wildlife Institute of India to Uttar Pradesh for conducting a survey, he said.

This committee will find ways to protect the forests and wildlife in the midst of the development being done for the security of the nation, he said