Army to Construct Bailey Bridge in Kaziranga

The Eastern Command chief, Lieutenant. General Rana Pratap Kalita, confirmed that the Army has received a request for setting up three Bailey bridges within the park and will work out the feasibility of the proposal.

The Bailey bridges will replace wooden structures in flood-prone areas of the park and will be located in Mihi in Kohora, Kathparaghat in Bagori, and Rongamotia in the Agoratoli sector of the park. These bridges will be 4 m wide and between 30 m and 100 m in length.

The bridges will be a permanent solution to a communication problem during floods and will facilitate better coordination among the forest guards manning the anti-poaching camps. The Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve has a total of 223 anti-poaching camps, many of which are inundated during floods. The Bailey bridges are expected to shorten the routes to vulnerable areas and improve connectivity in primarily inaccessible regions.

Kaziranga currently has the highest density of tigers in India and an estimated 2,613 rhinos, according to the 2022 count.