India has launched its first dedicated wildlife corridor along the ambitious Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, marking a major milestone in balancing infrastructure development with ecological preservation. The initiative aims to protect and conserve the local ecosystems and wildlife habitats intersected by the 1,386-km expressway.
Spanning critical forest patches and natural reserves, the wildlife corridor includes underpasses, overpasses, and noise barriers designed specifically to facilitate the safe movement of animals such as leopards, nilgai, and antelope. Environmentalists have praised the project as a model for sustainable development that prioritizes biodiversity.
According to Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, the corridor is the “first-of-its-kind green infrastructure project in Asia.” He underlined how crucial it is to include environmental protections in large-scale construction projects and gave his word that the motorway would help cut down on car emissions and travel time without endangering animals.
According to experts, this project may open the door for comparable ecological corridors on other Indian roadways. In addition to preventing incidents between animals and vehicles, the corridor is anticipated to facilitate the migration and reproduction of different species, maintaining the area’s biological equilibrium over the long run.
