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Correspondent

21 August 2024 at 10:20:16 am

Broken Corridors

India likes to celebrate its growing tiger population as one of conservation’s great success stories. But tigers survive and thrive because their habitats remain connected. Fragmenting those forests entails risks for thriving tiger populations. The decision to grant an in-principle wildlife clearance for a third railway line through the Satpura-Melghat tiger corridor carries with it precisely that risk. The proposed railway line between Jujharpur and Chichonda cuts through one of central...

Broken Corridors

India likes to celebrate its growing tiger population as one of conservation’s great success stories. But tigers survive and thrive because their habitats remain connected. Fragmenting those forests entails risks for thriving tiger populations. The decision to grant an in-principle wildlife clearance for a third railway line through the Satpura-Melghat tiger corridor carries with it precisely that risk. The proposed railway line between Jujharpur and Chichonda cuts through one of central India’s most critical wildlife landscapes, linking the Satpura and Melghat tiger reserves and forming part of the larger Satpura-Pench-Melghat landscape. This corridor is a biological highway, allowing tigers and other wildlife to disperse, breed and maintain healthy genetic diversity. The Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife has insisted that mitigation measures such as wildlife overpasses be scientifically designed and reviewed before implementation. Yet the clearance itself exposes an unsettling contradiction. The committee’s own inspection found that the proposed 34 wildlife overpasses were based largely on field observations and mortality records rather than rigorous scientific assessment. Detailed engineering designs are still absent. Importantly, the comprehensive landscape study by the State Forest Research Institute, Jabalpur, is still awaited. The approval has been granted before the study is in. This reverses the basic principle that should govern projects in ecologically sensitive landscapes. Scientific evidence must guide approvals, not merely refine them after the fact. Once a project gathers administrative momentum, conditions often become exercises in compliance rather than conservation. There have been far too many examples where mitigation structures were inadequately designed, poorly located or inconsistently monitored, leaving wildlife to bear the consequences. The danger extends beyond tigers. The Satpura-Melghat landscape supports leopards, sloth bears, wild dogs, gaur and countless smaller species that depend on uninterrupted forests. Railways have already emerged as a significant source of wildlife mortality across India. Faster trains, higher traffic density and expanding rail infrastructure multiply these risks, especially where animal movement corridors intersect transport networks. None of this argues against development. India’s expanding economy requires better freight movement and modern transport infrastructure. But development ceases to be sustainable when it treats ecological safeguards as hurdles instead of foundations. While a railway can be built, a forest corridor, once fragmented, cannot simply be reconstructed through concrete overpasses and engineering optimism. India has spent decades and enormous public resources restoring tiger habitats and expanding protected areas. Allowing critical corridors to shrink through piecemeal clearances would squander those gains. The Satpura-Melghat corridor is the artery through which one of India’s finest wildlife landscapes continues to breathe. That said, if the government gets the balance between development and conversation right, this project could well become a model for reconciling economic ambition with ecological responsibility.

SC allows BJP govt to withdraw cases against Centre, LG in AAP regime

  • PTI
  • May 23, 2025
  • 2 min read


New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the Delhi government to withdraw seven cases filed by the erstwhile AAP government against the Centre and Lieutenant Governor over issues including the control over services in the capital.


A bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih took note of the submissions of Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the BJP-led government, and allowed the plea.


After a lawyer raised the issue of non-payment of dues to advocates representing the previous government, Bhati assured the bench that it would be taken care of.


On May 22, the seven bitterly-contested cases filed by the erstwhile AAP-led Delhi government against the Centre and the LG were sought to be withdrawn from a bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh.


Bhati referred to the plea saying the seven cases pending in the top court challenged the authority of LG in several committees, including solid waste management, Yamuna River cleaning and against the validity of Acts and ordinances.


"These matters should not trouble this court anymore," she said.


The previous AAP-led Delhi government was involved in a bitterly fought legal battle in the top court over the powers including control over services in the national capital.


The top court in July, 2023 sought a response from the Centre on the then AAP government's plea challenging the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) (Amendment) Act, 2023 which created an authority for transfer and posting of Group-A officers in Delhi.


The Act, initially an ordinance, came a week after the Supreme Court handed over the control of services in Delhi excluding police, public order and land to the elected government.


It envisages to set up a National Capital Civil Service Authority for the transfer of and disciplinary proceedings against Group-A officers from the Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli (Civil) Services (DANICS) cadre.


Another such case was against a decision of the NGT, which was stayed in July 2023 by the top court.


The NGT order of January 19, 2023 asked LG to head a high-level committee constituted to deal with issues concerning Yamuna rejuvenation.


The NGT constituted the high-level committee of authorities concerned in Delhi, where pollution of Yamuna was higher (about 75 per cent) when compared to the other river basin states.


Other cases included a challenge to the alleged non-release of sanctioned funds for the Delhi Jal Board for the financial year 2023-2025 by the Finance Department of GNCTD; re-declaration that the LG of Delhi is bound by the aid and advice of the council of ministers of the GNCTD and directions for appointment of the chairperson of Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC).


The Delhi government also sought to withdraw the challenge to orders issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the LG with respect to release of payments to advocates appointed by the ministers without the concurrence of the LG of Delhi and the appointment of advocates on record (AoRs) and advocates in the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court.

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