BJP-led Uttarakhand govt denotifies elephant reserve to make way for expansion of Dehradun airport

The Uttarakhand State Wildlife Board – which is headed by Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat – has approved de-notification of the Shivalik Elephant Reserve to make way for expansion of Dehradun’s Jolly Grant airport, as per a report carried by The Wire.

Shivalik Elephant Reserve encompasses the forest divisions of Dehradun, Haridwar, Lansdowne, Haldwani, Tanakpur and Ramnagar. It also includes part of Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve and Rajaji National Park.

The development comes amid protests from environmentalists, besides contravening a direction of the Union Environment Ministry to consider alternate tracts land for the airport.

The Centre had notified the reserve under Project Elephant in 2002 in order to protect the elephants in the area, their natural habitats and to reduce human-elephant conflict.

The airport expansion also requires the felling of 10,000 trees.

The board also increased the existing limit of five vehicles and 30 people per day in an area at Gangotri National park to 20 vehicles and 100 people.