Uttarakhand(UK) Wildlife Board said ok on Denotification of Shivalik elephant Reserve for Airport's expansion
26/11/2020 The Uttarakhand State Wildlife Board – under the chairmanship of CM Trivendra Singh Rawat – on Tuesday approved the proposal put before it: to denotify the Shivalik Elephant Reserve to make way for the expansion of Dehradun’s Jolly Grant airport. The move comes amid protests from environmentalists – and also contravenes a direction of the Union environment ministry to consider alternate tracts land for the airport. Shivalik Elephant Reserve encompasses the forest divisions/regions of Dehradun, Haridwar, Lansdowne, Haldwani, Tanakpur and Ramnagar. It also includes part of the Corbett Tiger Reserve and the Rajaji National Park. In 2002, the Centre notified the reserve under its Project Elephant, in order to protect the elephants in the area, their natural habitats and to reduce human-elephant conflict. Earlier this year, the Uttarakhand State Wildlife Board had already cleared the use of around 87 ha of forest-land for the same airport expansion project. The proposed bit ...