RANCHI: In a bid to ensure a safe abode for wildlife in Jharkhand’s Palamau Tiger Reserve (PTR), railways and the state forest department will soon start a joint inspection to explore alternative routes outside its core area.

If everything goes as planned, the inspection to find out alternate routes for the two existing lines and a proposed third line outside the PTR core area is likely to be carried out this month, a forest department official said.

The forest department has been protesting against the proposal of the third line for a freight corridor from Son Nagar in Bihar to Patratu in Jharkhand passing through the core area. A 11-km long railway track was proposed to be laid in the core area of the reserve.

The forest department had raised concern arguing the proposed line will divide the reserve into two zones due to the frequency of trains and permanently fragment the habitat. It will badly impact the movements of wild animals.

The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had also warned against construction of another railway line in the PTR in 2020. Later, the Jharkhand government took cognizance of the forest departments’ concern and sent a proposal to the Railways to shift the proposed line from the core area to the buffer zone of PTR.