Delhi forest department to build a wildlife corridor along Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary

DELHI: The Delhi forest department has submitted its recommendation to build a wildlife corridor along the Surajkund-Pali road that is close to the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary. A noted escalation on the need for the wildlife corridor has been observed by the forest department, especially after a female leopard got mowed down by a vehicle on June 28. Sohal Madan, Head, Bombay Natural History Society’s (BNHS) Delhi office, said that over five leopards have died on the roads passing through the wildlife sanctuary. Madan also noted that this is the first such passage in India’s urban landscape. 

A forest department official said that after the June 28 incident, the department brought in its Haryana counterpart and asked the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to conduct a survey to test the feasibility of the construction of the passage. The department had suggested building a wildlife corridor along the Pali-Surajkund road, where the June 28 incident occurred. The DMRC, in its report, suggested the construction of an underpass instead. 

The Asola Bhatti Sanctuary covers an area of over 32 square kilometres near the Delhi-Haryana border on the Southern Delhi Ridge of the Aravalli hill range. Through the sanctuary, three major roads flow with heavy traffic namely the Surajkund-Faridabad road, Gurgaon-Faridabad road, and Mehrauli-Badarpur road, according to officials. The BHNS identified three areas on the Gurgaon-Faridabad road where the animals were getting killed while crossing the road to drink water from a water body on the other side.