Written by Nikita Tiwari, a 19-year-old student

India opens its arms to a new world of environmental preservation by planning to under-go a construction of the first-ever “animal bridge” as an over-pass on the Delhi – Mumbai Expressway which is similar to the safe passage for wildlife in the Netherlands called ‘animal bridges’. This is truly a decision in the right direction taken by Nitin Gadkari, Arun Jaitley, and Sushma Swaraj who began working on the proposal on the 8^th of March 2019. The aim of this project is not only for the welfare of animals, but also for maintaining an ecological balance between humans and animals.

The main aim of the animal overpass is to prevent any interference to the movement of animals on the Ranthambore Wildlife Corridor that connects the Ranthambore and Mukundra (Darrah) wildlife sanctuaries in Rajasthan.

Recently, the Times of India mentioned that the Rajasthan government has approved and forwarded the plan for the animal overpass to the Central Wildlife Board. The NHAI has assigned the construction work to a big infrastructure company and the work will commence soon.

Most importantly the passage will be developed as part of a forest corridor with trees so that animals find it as their home within their familiar wildlife environment.

According to the news report the Expressway is set to have 5 animal bridges with natural-looking structures, length of over 2.5km. Because of this, there will be no risk of conflict as the wild animals get passage at every 500 meters interval. This overpass will also have noise cancellation barriers to protect the animals in entirety.

The project is expected to be completed by the year 2022 in 51 packages. The Expressway will pass through a few underdeveloped regions such as Mewar, Ratlam, and Dahod. It will also pass through multiple states such as Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra. The project will include 4 multilevel interchanges along with elevated ramps or service roads. It will provide direct connectivity to Delhi IGI Airport’s T3 Terminal via a 5 km – long shallow tunnel. It will also boast crossroads underpasses at crucial junctions as well as intelligent transportation systems.

It’s truly an eco-friendly move that will be good for all living beings. We all know that due to increased exploitation of the environment humanity needs to strike a balance. Everyday news of wildlife being harmed scares us. Animals are creatures with no voice but they do have a heart and a right to have their life preserved.

This is a great move for solving the human-animal conflict and ensures a safe passage to wildlife as well as helps maintain an ecological balance.

India will fortunately soon have its first-ever animal overpass at the under-construction Delhi – Mumbai greenfield Expressway.

To conclude I wanted to say that animals are the backbone of our Earth and those who protect and save animals lead the way in protecting and saving humans and all beings of the Earth too. Just think about it!

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