Animals paying price for faster access on new Delhi-Doon expressway?

Dehradun: Less than a month since the Delhi-Dehradun expressway was inaugurated, commuters have been highlighting concerns regarding safety of animals, with carcasses being spotted on a daily basis along the 200 km stretch. A commuter who took a bus ride on the expressway recently said that during the journey, he saw 18 dead dogs whose carcasses had been moved to the side of a crash barrier and 2-3 other unidentified animals. “This was just on one side, imagine the situation on the other side,” the commuter, who also posted about the issue on social media, said. A TOI team’s visit along the stretch a few days ago revealed at least 13 dead dogs, cats, mongoose and carcasses of some unidentified animals. There were accounts of larger animals such as deer, foxes, cattle as well, seen dead on the busy expressway.

Terming it a serious problem, Drona Gulati, owner of a prominent bakery in Doon, said that he saw at least 20 dead dogs during a recent trip on the route. “NHAI needs to take immediate action and work with forest dept and local units to prevent this. Dead baby monkeys have also been seen near Ganeshpur area. What’s worse is that the carcasses are not being removed, and in some cases, vehicles keep speeding over them,” said Gulati.

The expressway was inaugurated by PM Modi on April 14 and has reduced travel time between Delhi and Dehradun to around 2.5 hours. However, the reduced time comes with high-speed-moving traffic, especially at night, say many commuters.

“People are bound to speed at an expressway with a 100 km/hr limit. That said, we often travel by road to Kerala but we haven’t spotted as many animal carcasses along that 3,000 km route as we have on this 200 km stretch,” said Ajay Govind, a Dehradun-based filmmaker. “We must have seen at least 8-10 carcasses, mostly dogs, in our journey recently from Delhi to Dehradun. These numbers of deaths on a daily basis are staggering and speak about a larger problem that requires immediate intervention,” he added.

Mahesh Kumar, a local resident near the Katha toll plaza at Baghpat said that till around six months ago, the animals were moving freely. “ The animals are still crossing at their old familiar spots but they are encountering speeding vehicles and they have no way to learn quickly enough how to avoid them.”

Drivers plying regularly on the route echoed similar concerns, with some claiming that the animal deaths were much more unusual than what they have observed along any other highway in recent times.

“Yes, this is a huge safety concern for animals as well as commuters because eventually someone would stop to help an animal that has been hit, leaving them vulnerable to other oncoming traffic. There has to be accountability,” said Gauri Maulekhi, an animal welfare strategist.

Meanwhile, NHAI officials said that they are aware of the issue. “We have crash barriers in place along the route but small animals are still getting through. The larger animals are getting on from the inert-change link roads along the expressway. In the next few days, our toll plazas will go live. Once that happens and human presence increases along with vehicles slowing down, these accidents will be prevented,” said NHAI project director (Baghpat) Narendra Singh.

Saurabh Singh, NHAI project director (Dehradun), added, “Due to the Dehradun section of the expressway being elevated, animal accidents remain minimal. However, we are dealing with waste dumping at certain sections of the road, for which our clean-up crews are already making multiple rounds. Heavy, overloaded vehicles are also contributing to the problem. But public feedback and concerns are being noted and redressal measures are being taken accordingly.”