The Telangana state wildlife board has refused to grant permission to the state highways authority to widen the roads passing through Amrabad reserve forests, covering the Rajiv Gandhi WildLife Sanctuary, to facilitate travel to the famous Lord Shiva temple at Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh.
A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the state wildlife board chaired by state forest minister A Indrakaran Reddy on Monday. The meeting was attended by principal chief conservator of forests R M Dobriyal and other senior officials of the forest department.
A senior official familiar with development said the state highways authority had requested for alienation of forest land all along the road passing through Nallamala forests from Amrabad to Srisailam for expansion of the highway in the wake of increasing traffic flow to Srisailam, a famous pilgrimage centre.
The board turned down the proposal, as it felt that widening of the existing roads would result in vehicles driving at high speed, leading to accidents of wild animals in Amrabad reserve forests, the official said, seeking anonymity.
“Already, wild animals being hit by speeding vehicles are being reported frequently in the forest. Despite the installation of speed guns and occasional speed breakers on the Amrabad-Srisailam highway, motorists continue to travel at high speed, leading to 40-50 accidents of animals, especially monkeys, and deer every month,” the official added.
The Amrabad reserve forest is part of the Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam tiger reserve, also known as Rajiv Gandhi WildLife Sanctuary, which has 74 tigers, as per the 2021-22 tiger census. There are at least 24 tigers in Amrabad area alone.
“If the roads are expanded in this reserve forest, it might endanger the tiger population as well,” the official said.
The board also decided to enhance the compensation to be paid for people who are killed in attacks by wild animals. The compensation has been increased from the existing ₹5 lakh to ₹10 lakh. Besides, the board recommended payment of ₹3 lakh to the seriously injured in wild life attacks sand ₹1 lakh for less grievous injuries. If the victim becomes incapacitated, he would be paid another ₹1 lakh, the official said.
