Guwahati, May 20: The ministry of environment and forests has given the go ahead for the diversion of 196.75 hectares of forest land for the construction of a road from National Highway 54 in Mizoram to the Indo-Myanmar border for the Kaladan multi-modal transport facility project.

The proposal was discussed and cleared at a meeting of the forest advisory committee of the ministry of environment and forests in the first week of May.

The Kaladan multi-modal transit transport facility project envisages connectivity between Indian ports on the eastern seaboard and Sittwe port in Myanmar and then through riverine transport and by road to Mizoram. This will provide an alternate route for transportation of goods to the Northeast.

The committee had earlier discussed the proposal on May 7 last year. It had then demanded a report from a wildlife expert group on the impact this road would have on wildlife in general and the Ngenpui wildlife sanctuary in Mizoram in particular.

The group submitted its report on March 7 this year and said this route would link Sittwe port through water and a road network to southern Mizoram, which would follow the existing road to a large extent.

In its report, the group said the alignment with Ngengpui wildlife sanctuary was found to be satisfactory.

Only at a few places, it was seen to pass close to the protected area. The team recommended that at such places, the wildlife movement needed to be monitored closely, not only on the ground but also above, where arboreal species, particularly the primates, could be affected.

“Towards the south, near a couple of perennial rivers, wildlife monitoring particularly on elephants and hoolock gibbons needs to be done using modern camera traps. This should be executed in coordination with the chief wildlife warden of Mizoram for signs of elephants, particularly during the dry months and if required, provisions for elevated corridors should be made,” the report stated.

The committee said 81.83km of the 99.83km-long road that would pass through the forest land would take up 196.752 hectares of the forest area. Of the 81.83km stretch, 75.63km would pass through degraded jhum cultivated land, covering 181.51 hectares. During the construction of the road, about 3,084 trees would have to be felled.

The state forest department has proposed to undertake compensatory afforestation on equivalent area proposed for the diversion. The forest advisory committee has asked the state government to constitute a monitoring committee under chief wildlife warden with one expert group member with adequate scientific expertise to suggest corrective measures during the construction and post-construction phase of the road.