PM Modi to lay foundation stone for National Highway projects in Chhattisgarh; Key details

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be laying the foundation stone for three National Highway projects in Chhattisgarh during his scheduled visit to the state on July 7th. The three National Highway projects will be for the Chhattisgarh section of the 6-lane Greenfield Raipur - Visakhapatnam corridor. This 6-lane corridor will pass through three different states starting from Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. Importantly, the key component in the development of these National Highway projects is a 6-Lane tunnel of 2.8 Km length along with 27 animal passes and 17 monkey canopies. 

As per an official from the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways, through these three projects, it is expected to provide unrestricted wildlife movement in Udanti Wildlife Sanctuary area, through which the corridor passes. 

PM Modi's vision to minimise impact of highway development on Wildlife

(Monkey canopies are being built at different places on the National Highway, so that they can easily cross the highway from one side to the other) 

The official said, it has been the vision of PM Modi to minimize the impact of highway development on wildlife. This is the reason why relevant provisions are being made during the construction of various highways in the wildlife sanctuary areas, so that the danger to the wildlife habitat should be minimised. 

As per information, it is under the supervision of PM Modi, the development of such dedicated infrastructure for the safe passage of wildlife and their habitation, along with the development of National Highways and expressways is a frequent feature of highway development in India. 

Pertinently, the Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor, foundation stone for which was laid in December, 2021 by Prime Minister Modi, will have Asia’s largest wildlife elevated corridor of about 12 km for unrestricted wildlife movement. Apart from this, several such highway development projects including Delhi-Vadodara Expressway in Rajasthan, Varanasi-Kolkata Highway in Jharkhand and Bihar, 4-laning of 12 km in Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary, Delhi-Katra in Punjab among others. All these highways and expressways will be developed with components like elevated corridors, under and over-passes, tunnels, viaducts for animal crossing to ensure smooth habitat in wildlife areas. 

(Tunnels to be built on the highway to ensure smooth habitat of animals in the area)