Mumbai, Dec. 14: Cases of the wildlife coming under the wheels on “Samruddhi Mahamarg” have started trickling in, this, despite wildlife corridors being created along the Mumbai – Nagpur Super Communication Expressway.
One of the first cases was on the weekend it was inaugurated, and the victim being a hare. Now, a langur and a black buck are the other two victims.
On Monday, a video got widely circulated on the social media of two antelopes running along a vehicle.
Despite mitigation measures such as creating 16 wildlife corridors (of eight underpasses and eight overpasses) and 100 other wildlife protection structures being constructed to save the animals, instances of them getting crushed along Maharashtra’s road to prosperity (Samruddhi Mahamarg) seems inevitable.
The entire Expressway passes via three wildlife sanctuaries, namely, Katepurna Wildlife Sanctuary at Akola; Karanja-Sohol Black Buck Sanctuary at Washim and Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary in Thane.
So far, only the stretch between Shirdi and Nagpur has been operationalized, which is 520 km of the total 701 km. The Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary falls in the zone where construction is still underway and will be opened for the public only after a minimum of six months.
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