In yet another case of the environment losing out in the fight between development and conservation, Uttarakhand is set to lose its only elephant reserve.
The Uttarakhand wildlife board has recommended the denotification of the Shivalik Elephant Reserve.
This decision was taken during the 16th meeting of the board chaired by Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat.
In 2002, the then Congress government had notified nearly 5,400 square kilometres of forest land falling under 14 forest divisions as Shivalik Elephant Reserve.
It comprises forest divisions of Dehradun, Haridwar, Pauri, Nainital and Almora districts and some parts of Rajaji Tiger Reserve and Corbett Tiger Reserve.
However, according to the current government, as per the norms of the central government, there is no law or Act yet under which the legal status of an elephant reserve is defined.
Development at the cost of nature?
While the government says the move is aimed at paving the way for development activities, environmentalists say it is at the cost of nature.
That is because some 10,000 trees in the reserve will be cut for the expansion of the Jolly Grant Airport in Dehradun.
The government had sought the transfer of 243 acres of forest land to the Airport Authority of India (AAI) for the expansion of the airport.
However, this was turned down by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) in October and had asked the Uttarakhand government to find an alternate place for the airport expansion.
Last month, Jolly Grant Airport Director D K Gautam had said that the state government will denotify forest reserve according to the norms of the Environment Ministry. As far as trees are concerned, there would be plantation at some other place.
According to the latest estimates, there are around 2,026 wild elephants in Uttrakhand.
As per the elephants’ census carried out between June 6 and June 8 and the number of elephants rose nearly 10 per cent from 1,839 in 2017.