GUWAHATI The Army may help build Bailey bridges in the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve for faster movement of forest guards in strategic, vulnerable pockets of the one-horned rhino domain.
Lt. Gen Rana Pratap Kalita, the Eastern Command chief said the Army has received a request from the Kaziranga authorities for setting up three Bailey bridges within the park.
“We shall work out the feasibility and find out how to go about it,” he said.
Kaziranga’s director, Jatindra Sarma said the Bailey bridges sought would essentially replace wooden structures in flood-prone vulnerable pockets of the 889.51 sq. km park, also a U.N. World Heritage Site. The proposal was submitted when the Eastern Command chief visited Kaziranga a few days ago.
These bridges would be at Mihi in Kohora, Kathparaghat in Bagori, and Rongamotia in the Agoratoli sector of the park. All the bridges would be 4 metres wide and between 30 metres and 100 metres in length.
“Apart from two boats for patrolling on the Brahmaputra River (adjoining the park) and navigable streams within Kaziranga, we sought the Bailey bridges as a permanent solution to a communication problem, specifically during the floods,” Mr. Sarma told The Hindu on Sunday.
The bridges, off the tourist circuit tracks, are required for better connectivity in primarily inaccessible areas where wooden structures are often washed away during the monsoon, he said.
The bridges are expected to shorten the routes to the vulnerable pockets and facilitate better coordination among the forest guards manning the anti-poaching camps.
Kaziranga has a total of 223 anti-poaching camps. Many of them are inundated during the floods.
According to the 2022 count, the park has an estimated 2,613 rhinos. Kaziranga also has the highest density of tigers in India.
