The National Highways Authority of India has provided around Rs 50 crore for a wildlife conservation and mitigation plan along the Varanasi-Ranchi-Kolkata Expressway, with measures including animal underpasses, overpasses, habitat improvement and the planting of 45,000 saplings in Bihar.
The plan covers the expressway’s Package VII in Gaya district, where construction is being undertaken at an estimated cost of Rs 1,248 crore. The 33-km package runs from Anarban Saleya to Sangrampur, between kilometre 151 and kilometre 184, and has achieved around 36% physical progress, project director Devendra Kumar Bansal said.
The package is being executed under the Hybrid Annuity Mode. According to Bansal, the wildlife mitigation plan was prepared in coordination with the Bihar environment, forest and climate change department and the Zoological Survey of India.
The planned measures include two elephant underpasses and two animal overpasses to allow wildlife to cross the expressway. The conservation programme also includes wildlife habitat improvement, conservation of selected Schedule I species, soil and water conservation, forest fire management, and monitoring and evaluation.
NHAI’s regional office in Patna organised a media tour on Friday to present the project’s progress, engineering features and regional significance. The authority said the conservation measures are intended to reduce disruption to wildlife movement while improving safety for people travelling on the expressway.
The expressway will connect Rivasa in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi district with Kolkata, passing through Chandauli in Uttar Pradesh; Kaimur, Rohtas, Aurangabad and Gaya in Bihar; and districts across Jharkhand and West Bengal. In Bihar, the route will also improve access to major religious and tourism destinations, including Bodh Gaya and the Sun temple at Deo in Aurangabad district.
Passenger safety features planned for the corridor include high-quality cameras at one-kilometre intervals and trauma centres every 30 kilometres. These facilities are intended to support surveillance and provide quicker medical assistance in the event of crashes or other emergencies.
The route will continue through Chatra, Hazaribag, Ranchi, Bokaro, Dhanbad and Ramgarh in Jharkhand before entering West Bengal, where it will pass through Purulia and Bankura on its way to Kolkata.
The Package VII construction and the conservation measures are part of the wider expressway development linking eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. The next reported milestone is the continuation of construction and implementation of the wildlife and environmental measures along the Gaya section.
