The Forest Department has identified nine animal corridors in Kaziranga National Park (KNP) and respective human habitation areas in a field survey with the help of the State Revenue Department along with satellite imageries.
It has suggested the Revenue Department to work out strategies for establishing structural animal corridors in the revenue areas of these corridors. This has come to light from the reply of the Forest Department to an RTI query made by RTI-cum-environment activist Rohit Choudhury.
These corridors include Panbari, Haldhibari, Bagori, Harmoti, Kanchanjuri, Hatidandi, Deosur, Chirang and Amguri. The area covered by almost all these corridors are structural as well as functional.
The Forest Department has suggested that in the structural corridors there should be no human-induced disturbances, barring forestry and wildlife management practices, thus facilitating free wildlife movement. In non-structural parts of the functional corridors, there should be land-use change restrictions to help wildlife movement
The 5.73-sq km Panbari Corridor connects the Kaziranga National Park with Panbari Reserve Forest. This is one of the oldest structural corridors and is very important for the movement of wild animals throughout the year. It covers the third addition area of the Park. Human habitation covers around 56.24 hectares.
The entire 8.21-sq km Haldhibari Corridor is structural as well as functional, barring some areas in its middle, which are only functional. It is contiguous to Bagori Corridor on the west. Various commercial establishments, parking lots etc., have come up in its western side in recent times. Hatikhuli Tea Estate (TE) forms the non-structural part of its functional part. This tea estate is older than the declaration that made Kaziranga National Park a protected area. Human habitation covers around 45.02 hectares.
The forest covering the 2.5-sq km Bagori Corridor is purely functional. It is contiguous to the Haldhibari Corridor on the east and Harmoti Corridor on the west. This is one of the oldest and most frequently used animal corridors in the Kaziranga National Park area. The establishments in this area are mostly commercial and truck parking lots. These parking lots have come up in recent times. This has forced the animals to stray to other unfavourable locations for crossing National Highway-37 and hence been disturbing the human-wildlife harmony in the area. Human habitation covers around 38.68 hectares.
The entire 2.12-sq km Harmoti Corridor is structural as well as functional and is contiguous with the Bagori Corridor on the east. It is also one of the oldest and most frequently used corridors. The establishments in this area are mostly commercial. Recently, truck parking lots have surfaced here. This has forced the animals to stray to �difficult� locations for crossing National Highway-37, thus disturbing human-wildlife harmony in the area. Human habitation covers around 12.37 hectares.
Except for its western part, which is only functional, the entire 6.96-sq km Kanchanjuri Corridor is structural as well as functional. It is contiguous with Hatidandi Corridor on the west. Several old human habitations are within it. This Corridor is used by the wild animals especially during the flood season due to its proximity to the highlands on the southern side of the road. Human habitation covers around 27.28 hectares.
The 5.53-sq km Hatidandi Corridor is structural as well as functional in the middle. Its western and eastern sides are functional. It covers the fourth addition of KNP and is most frequently used by wild animals throughout the year. It is contiguous with the Kanchanjuri Corridor on the east and Chirang Corridor on the west. Human habitation covers around 28.53 hectares.
The eastern side of the 3-sq km Deosur Corridor is only functional, while the rest of its area is structural as well as functional. It is contiguous with the Chirang Corridor on the west and Hatidandi Corridor on the east. Human habitations cover around 26.63 hectares.
The 6.49-sq km Chirang Corridor area is structural as well as functional, except the Hatikhuli tea factory area, which is only a functional corridor. It has human habitation in around 46.94 hectares. It is contiguous with the Deosur Corridor on the east and Amguri Corridor on the west.
The 6.10-sq km Amguri Corridor has human habitation in around 56.53 hectares. It is contiguous with the Chirang Corridor on the east.
