RIGHT OF PASSAGE FOR WILD ANIMAL OR MAN-
WHO HOLDS PRECEDENCE!

 

Roads were made for journeys and not destinations - Confucius

 

This blog article has been dedicated to the dumb wild denizens to coincide with this year’s World Wildlife Day, the 3^rd March

Prelude

Recently, I was driving along the highway connecting Chengalput and Tiruporur and then on to the Rajiv Gandhi IT Expressway aka Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR). Three Reserve Forests (RF) are bisected by the 21 km road stretch in between these two satellite towns of the megapolitan Chennai. Vegetated terrain in each of this fragmented forest runs over a few hundred metres to a little over a few kilometers in length. Though not magnificent natural greenscapes or highlands that could imitate the lofty jungles of the Western Ghats or the Himalayas, these forest blocks are the last vestiges of nature, left behind by man close to a mega-city and tier-II towns- thanks to the forest laws of the country. This road is presently being developed into a four-lane drive to keep in tune with the development in the region.

Forests here support a wide range of wild smaller mammals and birds. Even while, I stopped the car to take a picture of a troop of bonnet macaques crossing the road in Illalur RF, the primates approached me so close - hoping probably to get some eatables, a feeding practice habituated by these animals over time. I could also spot a maimed monkey within the troop. But the injury from a vehicle hit never seems to have deterred the animal in keeping close to the roads. Little away, a peacock on flight from one side of the road was gently landing on a tamarind tree on the other end. Many heavy vehicles, motor cars and two wheelers were speeding past the location. I continued with my travel only with the fond hope that no other wildlife gets hurt or killed by a vehicle run over.

Humanity on the Move

Just as arteries carrying blood to the vital organs of a human body, roads have fast forwarded growth and development into hitherto remote and inaccessible, unknown and untouched parts of the world. Road networks support transportation and movement of people and have emerged as agents of change, transforming the landscapes in which they pass through.

    Man’s foot march began sometime between 80,000 to 50,000 years ago, with the first anatomically modern humans leaving Africa. Centuries in human history moved at a frenzied pace and roads spanned out across continents to match this momentum through the lens of time. To begin with, game trails mostly guided the formation of early dirt tracks by man for moving goods on human backs and heads and on the pack animals like horses, donkeys and oxen in the Neolithic age. First improvements of those dirt paths were made by clearing trees and big stones that hindered the path at the fords, passes and swamps, which were later on flattened and widened to accommodate increasing commerce. It is another matter that in elephant infested countries, these animals are seen as road engineers, as their beaten paths criss-crossing hill slopes serve as benchmark for aligning ghat roads by the modern day engineering-surveyors of early 19^th century. Where nomadic cattle grazing were prevalent, tracks left by the foraging animals on hills met this purpose.

    Invention of wheels that appeared to have happened in ancient Sumer in Mesopotamia around 5000 BCE revolutionized the transport by animal haulage through early trade routes. In an urge to expand their dominions, ancient and medieval Emperors went all out to create all-weather tracks in the hitherto inaccessible areas, mainly to move their army and artillery. Tracks, pitched with stones of sturdier assortments could well be considered as the worthy predecessors of the roads of medieval era. The first ever tar-paved roads were known to have been built through the Arab Empire in the 8^th century CE. Expansion of roads from then on progressed systematically – metalled roads to tar roads to cement roads - to keep pace with the needs of modern times into the 21^st century.

Ubiquitous Roads in India

Roads in India are categorized as National Highway (NH), State Highway (SH), Major District Roads (MDR), Rural roads, Urban roads and Project roads, depending on their specifications and the administering agencies. The country boasts of a road network of 6.22 million km, the second longest and next only to the USA. More than three fourth of them are falling under the class of Rural roads. In functional term, some of the roads have been classified as Expressway, Super Highway, and Freeways to connote the speed element. Such highways facilitating high-speed, high-volume road traffic though are in small lengths, Government in the Centre is ambitious of upgrading many existing National Highways into these categories in view of their logistic significance. That the length of NH and SH in the country, which was a mere 19,811 km in 1950 has grown to a phenomenal 3,67,528 km in the next 70 years, a neat 18.6 fold jump explains the growth trajectory in this sphere of development. Along with, grew the roads through forests. Being one of the busiest in the world, road transport in India for instance had moved 8225 million passengers and over 980 million tonnes of cargo during 2015.

 

What does a road mean for ecosystems?

When a road opens up an area, it increases human footprint by setting in motion a multitude of activities on its either side or both sides. Roads and the automobiles, combined together have moulded landscapes across the world. The staggering magnitude of road network expansion in general, outlines its associated implications. At global level, roads are assessed to have profoundly sliced the continent’s lands and have cut them into more than 6,00,000 pieces, half of which are less than one sq.km in size. In an otherwise stable and thriving terrestrial ecosystem, such splintered patches of landscape will lead to the creation of tiny, dysfunctional fragments, which tend to decay faster and lose their ecological distinction.

Road travel through forests thrills but kills animals

The roads winding their way through tree-clad forests or the vast meadows in the backdrop of enchanting landscapes might present a visual treat to the senses of the weary travelers. However, these otherwise benevolent linear alignments are causing havoc to biodiversity in hundreds of protected forests. Roads dissecting through forest landscapes and wildlife habitats pose grave threat to animal species in more than one way. Despite wild denizens having adapted over millennia to deal with adversity and evade predators, they are yet to fully equip themselves to match the swift evolution of the transportation infrastructure including automobile, which developed barely a century ago. Vehicles are taking a heavy toll on wildlife and are emerging as one of the drivers of local extinction. A study by the Centro Brasileiro de Ecologia de Estradas in 2014 estimated that every year about 475 million animals die in Brazil as victims of road kill.

The scale of problems relating to road density in India is imposing and is only set to accentuate, given the ambitious manner of constructing an additional length of 13,322 km road during 2020-21. The current narrative of pushing sustainable development agenda in the country, particularly road network expansion in forest areas has not definitely come to the rescue of wild animals. According to an estimation made by India-based Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT) around 55,000 km of roads passes through the country’s forests and protected areas, many of them through wildlife corridors. For example, NH 44, the country’s longest high way linking Srinagar and Kanyakumari cuts through wildlife corridors connecting Kanha, Satpura, Pench, Bandhavgarh, Panna tiger reserves and at least four other protected areas. NH 6 - India’s second longest highway- that runs west-east from Surat to Kolkata- passes through corridors around Melghat, Bor, Nagzira, Simlipal tiger reserves and seven other national parks and sanctuaries.

Rising wild animal mortality

In the face of many busy roads passing through critical wildlife habitats, incidents of accidental killing of animals by vehicle hit or run over are occurring more frequently than before. Death of charismatic species such as tiger, leopard draws widespread attention. But hundreds of lesser species, which are crushed under the wheels of speeding mechanical monsters seldom get recorded and go unaccounted. A ‘Road kills’ app’ developed by the WCT recorded 3,500 wildlife deaths on roads across the country during 2018. But the NGO vouches that it is only tip of an iceberg and many casualties go unnoticed. Few illustrations would confirm the intensity of the problem. 

        The NH 13, cutting through the montane grasslands and tropical forests of Kudremukh National Park in Karnataka has been identified as a virtual graveyard for wildlife. Here vehicles kill a myriad form of wild animals including Indian bison, Lion Tailed Macaque (LTM), capped macaque, sambhar deer, mouse deer, and leopard, besides many other lesser species of snakes, other reptiles and amphibians. In a week long study by wildlife researchers between 5 am and 7 pm during July 2016 in the Haridwar- Najibabad road, cleaving through the contiguous stretch of forests in Uttarakhand’s Rajaji National Park, animal fatalities included leopard, chital, yellow-throated marten, python, king cobra, not to speak of many small creatures like other snakes, frogs, birds, insects. In the last decade alone, road accidents claimed over 12 leopards in Sanjay Gandhi National Park of Mumbai. Occasionally, large mammals like elephants fall victim. A herd of three elephants was reportedly killed by a truck on NH 20 in Odisha during mid 2019.

As for Tamil Nadu, few forest stretches of concern have been identified. The State has nearly 3,350 km of forest roads- tarred, cemented or earthen. Few roads, passing through forests and sanctuaries have been developed into National highway and State highway formats by the concerned road agencies over a period of time. In stretches with higher wild animal population, when the nocturnal and diurnal animals move for fodder, water and prey in the night hours, frequent episodes of vehicle hit and run mortalities are reported. Such accidental killing of many species are reported from Anamalai Tiger Reserve (leopard, LTM), Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (elephant, leopard, bonnet macaque), Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (many species) and Erode division (leopard). There were reports of even larger mammals like tiger getting killed in the road stretch trisecting Mudumalai Tiger Reserve - Wynad sanctuary- Bandipur Tiger Reserve.

Road within forest- An ecological threat

The ecological consequences of roads within forests and wilderness areas go beyond direct loss of wild creatures from tragic accidents in mere numerical terms. Roads don’t merely mean road kill. They cause potential degradation of habitat, produce noise and light that disorient animals. There are many less perceptible but equally, if not more damaging outcomes, so much so the study of ‘Road ecology’ has become a distinct discipline of conservation biology. Forest roads kick-off many spill-over influences on either side of them in the form of slicing and thinning of natural vegetation, dying of trees, intrusion of invasive species, retreat of wildlife and so on, which the biologists term as the ‘Edge Effect’. Even a casual visitor to Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in the Nilgris will not miss out the unsightly preponderance of Parthenium weed along the margins of road passing through the reserve. That this exotic invasive is otherwise uncommon within the core of the sanctuary highlights the ‘edge effect’.

Roads in forests cut off well-treaded migratory paths of wild animals, caging them into small and insular forest patches and making them more susceptible to localized extinctions. Where traffic is high in volume, density and velocity, they become impermeable walls that splice up habitats. Such habitat fragmentation is more visible in sloppy terrains with steep gradients encountered in hilly regions, where aligning reasonably negotiable roads demand inclusion of many sharp and ugly hair-pin bends. This situation is common across the entire length of Himalayan range. Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats in the south are no exception. Take for instance the Aliyar-Valparai road in the Western Ghat segment of Coimbatore district. Here a brief road travel of 12 km between Aliyar and Attakatti forest check posts involves negotiation of over two dozen sharp hair-pin bends. Incidentally this slope sustains one of the viable populations of Nilgiri Tahr, the endangered mountain goat and the state animal for Tamil Nadu. Close by in the Eastern Ghats of Erode district, Bannari- Dhimbam ghat section of 15 km passing through the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) connecting Sathyamangalam with Chamrajnagar in Karnataka too sports 27 stiff hair pin turns. This road has been in national news recently, which we shall examine in the subsequent paras.

Road development in the hill ranges poses many other grave threats. Mountain roads cutting across steep slopes accelerate forest denudation, soil erosion and landslides. Construction of roads and their widening in the fragile hill slopes of the Himalayas contribute to landslides and land slips, as the roads steepen the slope angle. Considered as a young mountain range geologically, instances of massive landslides are reported in most part of the Himalayas year after year. Down south, recurrent landslides along the Mettupalayam - Udhagamandalam highway in the Western Ghats is a common feature of every monsoon.

Forest Roads- A challenge to species survival

How the roads that are running through critical wildlife habitats could turn into a nightmare for the jungle denizens and challenge their very existence will be better appreciated, if we consider the adverse impacts of road formation and their improvement in the hills.

Let us see the case of Mughal road in Jammu and Kashmir. Formed during the reign of the Mughals as a scenic kuccha path winding its way through fir and alpine meadows hugging the majestic Pir Panjal Range, this mountainous track was used in 1586 by Emperor Akbar to enter Kashmir Valley from Lahore. In an effort to ensure additional connectivity between Srinagar and Jammu, this road was widened and improved between 2007 and 2013, in the process sending down tones of rubble that turned the slopes and the lush meadows into sterile debris-laden hills. The Mughal road in its current version has evolved into a hectic thoroughfare with a constant rumble of trucks and tourists.

The new avatar of Mughal road has in store a disquieting backlash on the survival of an already endangered wild mountain goat, Pir Panjal markhor. The road cuts through the Hirpora Wildlife sanctuary, one of the last refuges of the species, of which only 250 to 300 are estimated to survive in small fragmented population in this region. The subversion is accentuated by the truck loads of livestock brought into the range by the graziers through the Mughal road with the onset of snow melting. The cattle compete with markhor in their scarce feeding grounds. This is the critical time for markhor, particularly the pregnant females waiting to take advantage of the first flush of protein rich grass. Its numbers in Hirpora have nearly halved to a mere thirty in the past decade that raises doubt, as to whether the species will survive the Mughal road.

From a study of mortality of radio-collared Siberian tigers living in areas with no roads, secondary roads and primary roads in Russia’s Far East between 1992 and 2000, the Wildlife Conservation Society of India found that the survival rate of adult tigers occupying areas with roads was about half of those living in undisturbed forests. Near home, research by National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru has shown that genetic variation among Central India’s tigers is the highest in the country because of the availability of large contiguous habitats in the past. Analysis of genetic data from 10 Central Indian tiger reserves including Pench, Kanha and Bandhavgarh predicted that ‘heterozygosity’ or genetic variability would decrease by as much as 50 per cent in the next century through inbreeding and disease, if tiger populations are isolated by extension of linear intrusions such as roads at the current rate.

The roads cutting through forests permanently influence the biology and ecological behaviour of certain specialist species. The hoolock gibbon, the India’s only ape is reportedly forced aground because of a highway that had broken the contiguity of canopy cover in the lush evergreen forests of the North Eastern India. Being a highly specialized arboreal animal using its long, agile arms to swiftly glide along tree branches, the gibbon is not adapted to walk. Though in the nature’s scheme of things they would not be found on the ground, travelers along this road today commonly sight nervous troops, awkwardly scrambling to scurry across the road and scout for food. Far into the Southern interior India, a similar precarious position appears frustrating the survival of Lion Tailed Macaque (LTM), an endangered primate in Valparai region of Coimbatore district. The species’ biological trait is changing for the worst from a predominantly tree-canopy species to a ground-dwelling animal. It is all because of the ghat road encroaching into its prime habitat.

To facilitate rapid progress in works, rules and regulations that govern the sanction of all linear intrusions like roads, railways, power lines etc in the forest areas have been relaxed in the past few years, based on the perception that environmental norms and the rigours of forest clearance process are slowing down progress of such projects. The consent of affected village bodies (gram shaba) was done away with in 2013 and a year later another major relaxation of rules for faster execution of roads was ushered in. Tree-cutting, construction etc. could now start after getting an in-principle approval from local authorities such as District Forest Officer.

It is apprehended that dilution of the provisions of the 1980 Forest Conservation Act (FCA) that regulate the diversion of forest lands for non-forestry purposes -road laying included- is happening to accommodate more of development projects in the forests. A clarification was issued by the MoEF&CC to State Governments on October 26, 2021, while discussing on the applicability of FCA over Right of Way (RoW) roads, ownership of which rests with the NHAI or state governments. The advisory states that ‘If the ownership of land vests with Ministry of Road Transport & Highways/ National Highway Authority of India/state road construction agency, it is not a forest as per Government records and the same land is under ‘non-forest use’ before October 25, 1980, then provisions of FCA will not apply’.

 From despair to hope

Given the indispensability of roads in humanity’s progress, the reader might wonder as to whether the position is turning absolutely hopeless. Of course not! Judicious site-specific application of road engineering principles and integrating its development with the ecological uniqueness of the concerned area might show road planners the means to avoid or at least lessen the extent of decimation and to allow the wild animals’ rightful passage in their habitats. The thumb rule to prevent the roads from emerging as a peril to wildlife is to eschew new roads in protected areas and pristine natural habitats and seek alternate routes, despite at higher economic costs. During 2019, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways sent advisory to the NHAI and other road construction authorities to make all efforts to avoid any road alignment through National Parks and Wildlife sanctuaries unless absolutely unavoidable. But what if a road already exists for long in a wilderness area and had over a period of time witnessed a stupendous increase in traffic volume and density. Instances are many in the country, where the forested landscapes, particularly in the mountainous regions, represent a mosaic of contrasting and conflicting land-use practices in one frame. We are left with fragmented isles of nature in the midst of oceans of farmlands, fruit orchards and plantation estates- all intersected by roads. These were contiguous jungles in the past, very badly mutilated by the drivers of development at the altar of human progress.

An expedient engineering remedy in the existing critical but vulnerable wildlife-rich road stretches is to strictly enforce speed governance by proper deployment of engineering measures. A thriving illustration for this sort of management intervention is recorded from Zanzibar, Tanzania, where strategically installed speed bumps on a road through a forest reduced the deaths of the endangered red colobus monkeys by over 80 per cent. When the author of this blog was heading the forest region covering Coimbatore and Nilgiris districts in Tamil Nadu two decades back, he toyed with the idea of bringing speed restrictions for the vehicles running through the stretch of National Highways 181 within the Mudumalai sanctuary. With sustained follow up with the National Highways authorities and the district administration, rumble strips and speed humps were installed at the strategic animal crossing intersections. Pictorial reflective signages were also erected at the appropriate points along this road. Simple these measures might look. But they brought substantial reprieve for the forest animals and the road mortality slumped considerably.

Local administrators and forest managers seek to innovate in many ways to mitigate the sufferings of these speechless animals. And the judicial system extends a helping hand for such initiatives, whenever contra-interests from road user lobbies attempt to stall such management interventions through legal recourse. Most animal fatalities on roads take place in the night, because that is when the animals move the most to gain respite from human presence. In recognition of this pattern, a simple management decision for banning movement of vehicles on roads passing through wildlife areas in the past seemed to have brought abundant relief. Having heard the poignant stories of animal kills including that of tigers, leopards and other wild animal species caused by heavy vehicles passing through Palamu Tiger Reserve in Jharkhand, the Jharkhand High Court banned the night time movement of bauxite-loaded trucks through the Reserve. Similar restriction is in operation since 2010 on the highway that passes through Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka, which links Mysuru with Wayanad in Kerala and Gudalur in Tamil Nadu. Though appearing to be a simple step, this ban was hard won with long-drawn legal battle by organizations interested in wildlife conservation against the road lobby. Evaluation of road-related animal mortality here in the post-ban decade suggested that there has been an 80 per cent reduction in the animal deaths in comparison with that reported in the pre-ban decade.

           Recounting the recent developments connected with the ban on ‘dusk to dawn movement of vehicles’ through the Bannari (Tamil Nadu) - Punajanur border (Karnataka) road stretch in the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) will provide the reader an insight into the fuller perspective of the issues. This 40 km long ghat road in the NH 948, cutting through the core of Sathyamanagalam Tiger Reserve with heavy traffic density is the bone of contention. Though this road might be century old, widened and improved upon several times, it gained limelight only after the forest area was declared as a wildlife sanctuary in 2008 and as the State’s fourth tiger reserve five years later in 2013. Post this declaration, reserve administrators began assessing the different causes of wildlife deaths and road-mortality stood as a perceptible threat. Even large animal like elephant was once knocked down by a truck in the dark hours. With a view to provide relief from the escalating animal kills on this road, Erode district administration through a gazette notification imposed restrictions on the night time movement of vehicles between Bannari and Karapallam with effect from January 2019. Plying of commercial vehicles between 6 PM and 6 AM and of other vehicles from 9 PM to 6 AM is prohibited as per the notification. But the ban was short-lived and had to be put on hold in the face of wide protests from the people of the area.

A PIL filed by an advocate S.P. Chockalingam in the Madras High Court prayed for a direction to the Erode district collector-cum- Regional Transport Authority to implement his January 2019 order. Even while noting the existence of many villages in the area and the dependence on this road for the trade and commercial activities in the region, the Honb’le High Court rather found fault with the authorities in not enforcing their own order of January 2019. The Court in their February 2022 judgment ruled that the order banning vehicular movement at night on the NH through the STR will not be stayed except permitting 24/7 vehicular movement only for medical emergencies. The Court wondered as to why the Government declared the area a tiger reserve if 80,000 people are affected by the night ban, as argued by the respondents. Thus, the ban has come to be in force despite public anger, annoyance and outrage. This example has proved once for all that wildlife enjoys precedence in their home over man.

Whether status-quo-ante is possible?

Many roads were formed through wilderness areas and have been in existence even prior to the promulgation of stringent wildlife laws. Provisions of the 1972 National Wildlife (Protection Act) attempt to guarantee ‘order of precedence’ for the wildlife in their homes. The road agencies intend to widen and upgrade such existing passages through forests, for the reasons of augmenting connectivity and in keeping pace with the overall development of the regions connected by such roads - justifiably so. Forest managers though are in a position to appreciate the needs, present day guidelines mandate rigorous scrutiny of the proposed expansion of carriage way and the related infrastructure and prescription of many remedial measures to mitigate any adverse impact of the road augmentation.

Dozens of roads in the stretches within wildlife habitats are being upgraded with no attempt in creating remediation infrastructure. Of late, better senses seem to prevail over road agencies- more so due to NGO activism and judicial intervention. Let us see the case of National Highway 44, section of which cuts through Kanha-Pench wildlife corridor in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra that was proposed for four-laning in 2008. Despite petitioning to the Supreme Court’s Central Empowered Committee (CEC) for examining an alternate alignment, the NHAI’s proposal got the Apex Court’s nod. The Court ordered creation of several mitigation measures, which include construction of underpasses, noise and light barriers, and pipe culverts for reptiles.

Fortunately for the wild animals, the NHAI built nine underpasses in this road corridor during 2018, considered as India’s first attempt to remedy the impact of linear infrastructure on wildlife. Camera-traps set by Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in these passes one year later showed that a whole range of animals used the few larger underpasses to nap, to play among their pack, to hunt, but most often, just to move over to the forest on the other side of the road. They helped to prevent road kill, to reduce the ‘barrier effect’ that busy roads have on the movement of animals and to ensure habitat connectivity. Even while sending a ray of hope, wildlife activists argue that the installed measures are far from flawless. They claim that six of the underpasses are relatively small ‘bridges’ and fewer animal species use them, none of them have barriers against light and noise, and the pipe culverts for smaller reptiles have not been constructed.

Similar corrective actions have been launched in the NH-6 expansion projects much to the delight of forest managers and wildlife lovers.

Learning

New road alignment must strictly exclude forest tracts and wildlife corridors keeping in tune with the advisory of the Union Road Transport and highways Ministry in letter and spirit.

Wherever expansion projects within wildlife zones become unavoidable, comprehensive assessment of their impacts on the long term health of wild habitats and the mitigation plans for alleviation of adverse effects must take precedence in the project appraisal.

Once approved, partial and half-hearted implementation of mitigation plans must give way to full-throttle and perfect solutions, as remedial measures cost only a paltry proportion, considering the huge investments in the road projects.

References

1.       Divya Gandhi, A wild, wild road, The Hindu, September 08, 2019

2.       Daljiworld Media Network, Chamrajnagar: Prohibition of night travel at Bandipur forest, protest held in Wayanad, September 09, 2019

3.    Prerna Singh Bindra, 2017. The trail of blood. Fountain Ink. Vol 6. Issue 9 (July 2017) 67-80.

4.    Sanjay Gubbi. 2004. Roads to hell. Sanctuary Asia Magazine. Vol. XXIV No 5. October 2004. 50-53.

5.    Times Network, Night time ban on traffic in tiger reserve to stay, Times of India, Chennai February 25,2022