A formal objection has been submitted to Madhya Pradesh’s town and country planning department against three proposed roads through the Samardha forest division in Bhopal, with the representation warning that the alignments could fragment tiger habitat and increase the risk of human-wildlife conflict.
The objection concerns the Chandanpura-Mendora-Mendori landscape, described by the objector as a breeding habitat and movement corridor connecting Ratapani Tiger Reserve with Bhopal and Kheoni Wildlife Sanctuary in Dewas district. The three proposed routes are the 60-metre Akbarpur-Chandanpura-Mendora/Mendori road, the 24-metre Chichli-Chandanpura road and the 45-metre Bairagarh Chichli-Kerwa Ghat-Mendora alignment.
Prabhash Jetley, who submitted the representation, said the area forms part of a rare urban wildlife landscape where tigers have continued to coexist with Bhopal’s expanding population. “No other metropolis in the world can boast of 23 tigers living in and around the city, including eight within Bhopal’s municipal limits,” Jetley said, according to the representation.
The objection cites the area’s rugged terrain, steep forest slopes and proximity to the Kerwa reservoir as engineering, ecological and public safety concerns. It says road construction and the resulting increase in vehicular movement could divide wildlife habitat, disrupt tiger movement and raise the likelihood of human-tiger encounters. Such encounters, Jetley said, have occurred in the area over the past two and a half decades.
The representation also warns against construction in locations used for breeding and cub-rearing. It argues that the proposed road network could undermine the coexistence between the forest belt and surrounding urban settlements, although the planning department’s response to the objection was not provided in the report.
A separate concern relates to the status of forest land in the proposed road corridors. The objection says there is insufficient clarity over the identification of revenue forests and deemed forests in the area. It refers to proceedings before the National Green Tribunal concerning the mapping, notification and protection of deemed forest areas, and seeks their transfer to the Forest Department in accordance with applicable directions.
The objection follows wider conservation efforts in Madhya Pradesh after Ratapani was notified as a tiger reserve in December 2024. The National Tiger Conservation Authority and the Wildlife Institute of India reported 785 tigers in Madhya Pradesh in the 2022 national tiger estimation, the highest count among Indian states, Jetley said.
Jetley has asked the authorities to incorporate the Kerwa, Kaliasot, Chandanpura, Mendora and Mendori forests into a protected wildlife buffer linked to Ratapani Tiger Reserve. He has also sought a zero-construction buffer zone, stronger tiger monitoring and the preservation of wildlife corridors.
The immediate planning question is whether the three proposed alignments can proceed through the landscape without affecting forest continuity and wildlife movement. The formal objection places those concerns before the town and country planning department as the Bhopal Development Plan 2047 is considered.
