Four years after Supreme Court-formed panel’s nudge, Assam mum on construction in Kaziranga animal corridors
The Assam government has failed to comply with a 2022 Supreme Court-mandated panel request to report on construction activities within Kaziranga National Park's animal corridors. Environmental activists are seeking transparency regarding illegal developments that threaten the habitat of the one-horned rhino.
Why it matters
The lack of government accountability regarding protected wildlife zones highlights ongoing tensions between infrastructure development and environmental conservation in India.
The Assam government seems to have ignored a Supreme Court-constituted panel’s March 2022 notice to provide a list of construction activities along the nine corridors of the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve and within 10 km of its default Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ).
On March 3, 2022, the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) met with the Chief Secretary and other Assam government officials in New Delhi to discuss how the Supreme Court’s April 14, 2019, order was being implemented.
In that order, the apex court banned all forms of mining, stone quarrying, and related activities along the southern boundary of the one-horned rhino habitat to protect wildlife and vital hill catchments of Karbi Anglong district. The court also prohibited any new construction on private lands falling within the nine identified wildlife and animal corridors around the reserve.
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