BackLAW
EAC clearance for Bengal e-way to divert forest land in tiger landscape
The Union environment ministry's EAC cleared a 235-km greenfield expressway from Varanasi to Kolkata, with required diversion of about 103.86 hectares of reserved forest land. The project lies in a tiger landscape near the Jangal Mahal Elephant Corridor and includes wildlife crossing provisions and an enhanced environment management plan.
Why It Matters
The clearance enables the Bharatmala Phase-II expressway project but raises concerns about wildlife movement, elephant corridors, and habitat fragmentation in a sensitive tiger landscape.
Timeline
3 Events
Article published reporting EAC clearance and details
May 7, 2026
An article published on May 7, 2026 reports the EAC clearance and outlines the conditions, the forestland diversion, tiger landscape context, and includes comments from stakeholders about human-elephant conflict near elephant corridors.
EAC clears expressway project in principle with conditions
April 24, 2026
The EAC cleared the project in principle, subject to conditions including: (i) 20 elephant-cum-wildlife underpasses with a minimum span of 300 metres (as per the Divisional Forest Officer’s recommendations); (ii) an Environment Management Plan with site-specific wildlife conservation strategies and adequate budget; (iii) diversion of 103.8593 hectares of forest land (62.8 ha across Purulia, Kangsabati, Bankura South and Panchet forest divisions; 41 ha in Rupnarayan forest division), plus 1,522 hectares of private agricultural/barren land and 673 hectares of government land; (iv) alignment through Purulia, Bankura, Pashchim Mednipur, Hoogli and Howrah; (v) presence of 17 Schedule-I species including Indian elephant, leopard, pangolin, striped hyena and cobra; (vi) Jangal Mahal Elephant Corridor lies 7.75 km south of the alignment, raising potential for wildlife incursion; (vii) wildlife crossing structures must adhere strictly to DFO recommendations, with emphasis on mitigating human-elephant conflict in the Jongol Mahal region.
EAC 444th meeting takes up NHAI expressway project
April 23, 2026
The NHAI 235-km Varanasi–Kolkata greenfield expressway was taken up at the Environment Ministry’s Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) 444th meeting, conducted over April 23–24, 2026.