India, Jan. 20 -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Kaziranga Elevated Corridor Project on 18 January 2026. It involves four-laning of the existing National Highway 715 (also a part of the Asian Highway 1) in Koliabor town of Assam that borders the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve (KNPTR). While the project has been hailed as a wildlife mitigation milestone, local activists and residents have raised an alarm over the impact on wildlife in the national park and livelihood loss due to widening and expansion of the highway.

The newly inaugurated corridors would involve diversion of 20.4 hectares of forest land from the Core Zone of Kaziranga Tiger Reserve and 364.98 hectares from the default Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) of K...