Over 5,000 trees to be felled for building six lane highway in Delhi

27 Sep 2021 CW Team

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has sought permission from the forest department of Delhi for the 14.75 km long six-lane Delhi-Saharanpur highway development. East and North Delhi has over 14 hectares of forest land with 5,104 trees, which are proposed to be diverted for the six-lane highway construction.

The stretch of land has 5,104 trees between Akshardham National Highway - 9 junctions and the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, an official said.

The official said that an inspection was conducted in August. The agency skipped some trees during the counting process, and those have been told to consider. NHAI is yet to grant land for compensatory afforestation.

The total species of trees include Peepal, Sheesham, Sahtut, Ashok, Champa, Neem, Eucalyptus, Subabul, Kikar, Ber, Gular, and Jamun.

The highway project worth Rs 1,500 crore is a part of the Phase I Bharatmala Pariyojana, which is the second-largest highway construction programme in India, with 50,000 km of road constructed under the project.

The highway project falls in deemed forest land, and the diversion of this land is unavoidable, as per the proposal. The central agency sought permission for the 0.35 hectares of forest land diversion for the six-lane access-controlled highway from DND Maharani Bagh to the junction with the Jaitpur-Pushta Road of the national highway-148.

Some 191 tree species, including Beri, Neem, Sahtut, Peepal, Siras, are proposed to be translocated during the highway construction.

Image Source

Infrastructure Transport

17 Sep 2025

Three Firms Shortlisted for Rs 332 Million Delhi Metro Contract

Three firms have qualified for the electrification contract D2E-12 of Delhi Metro Phase 4’s Line 10 and Line 5 extension. Line 10 spans 23.622 km, connecting Aerocity and Tughlakabad with 15 stations, while the Line 5 extension covers 12.58 km between Inderlok and Indraprastha with 10 stations.In June 2025, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) invited bids for this contract. The technical bids were opened on 4 August 2025, with four firms submitting proposals. During the evaluation, one firm’s bid was rejected.The three qualified firms are:M/s A.K. Infra ProjectsM/s Kalpataru Projects I..

L&T Seeks to Sell Hyderabad Metro Stake Amid Financial Losses

Infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T) has expressed its intention to sell its stake, exceeding 90 per cent, in the L&T Hyderabad Metro Rail project to either the state or central government through a new Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), citing operational and accumulated losses.In a letter addressed to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), L&T Metro Rail stated that despite repeated follow-ups, the Telangana government has not provided the expected financial assistance. The delay is worsening the financial distress of the concessionaire, making the situa..

Ixigo Launches Delhi Metro Ticketing on Its Trains App

Online travel aggregator (OTA) ixigo has partnered with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) to launch Delhi Metro ticketing on the ixigo Trains app on 12 September.As part of the collaboration, ixigo Trains now offers QR-based metro tickets with in-app payments. Users can plan and book end-to-end journeys across trains, buses, flights, hotels and now metro services on a single platform.The DMRC operates nearly 400 km of network across more than a dozen lines, making it India’s largest and busiest metro system. In August 2025, it recorded i..