Guwahati, Dec 24: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of the ambitious Kaziranga Elevated Corridor in January 2026, marking a significant milestone in Assam’s efforts to balance wildlife conservation with modern infrastructure development.
State Agriculture Minister Atul Bora confirmed the development on Wednesday, stating that the project gathered momentum following the Prime Minister’s visit to the UNESCO World Heritage site last year.
Quoting Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Bora said Prime Minister Modi was deeply impressed by Kaziranga’s rich biodiversity during his last visit, which helped prioritise the project.
“We have been informed that the Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone of the elevated corridor. This is good news for the people of Assam as it will protect wildlife while improving connectivity,” Bora said.
The 34.45-km-long elevated corridor is part of a Rs 6,957-crore project approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).
The corridor will pass over nine critical animal corridors along National Highway-37, now NH-715, which runs through the ecologically sensitive Kaziranga landscape.
At present, around 5,000 to 6,000 vehicles ply the highway every day. During the annual monsoon floods, wild animals, particularly elephants and deer, are forced to cross the busy highway to reach higher ground in the Karbi Anglong hills, frequently resulting in fatal road accidents.
The elevated corridor will allow animals to move freely and safely beneath the highway, irrespective of traffic flow or weather conditions, significantly reducing human-animal conflict.
Beyond conservation, the project is expected to give a major boost to regional development. It includes four-laning of the Kaliabor-Numaligarh stretch covering 85.67 km, and the construction of greenfield bypasses at Jakhalabandha and Bokakhat to decongest town centres.
Officials said the project will generate nearly 35 lakh person-days of direct and indirect employment.
Earlier in November, a wildlife activist wrote to the Director-General of UNESCO, alleging that the project violates the World Heritage Convention and poses severe risks to endangered species in the park.
In a letter addressed to UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enany, Prasanta Kumar Saikia, a resident of Gomothagaon (Kuwaritol) in Nagaon, said the construction of the corridor would irreversibly damage Kaziranga’s “integrity and outstanding universal value (OUV).”
He argued that the prolonged construction phase, marked by loud machinery, heavy vehicular movement, vibrations and increased human activity, would severely disrupt animal movement through traditional corridors and disturb breeding patterns of several endangered species that depend on these habitats.
With inputs from IANS