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

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.

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