NEW DELHI: Nearly two lakh trees in forest land have to be felled for the UP government’s Ganga Expressway. The much-talked about project has got an initial go-ahead from an environment ministry committee despite concerns over the number of trees which has to be cut.
With a project cost of Rs 36,230 crore, the nearly 600 km-long expressway will pass through 12 districts along the river Ganga from Meerut to Prayagraj.
While it was recently accorded Term of References (ToR), the committee has sought clarifications on the need for a 120m land as Right of Way (RoW) for the six-lane expressway, need for a mandatory public hearing and some alignment issues. ToR talks about the scope of work to be done.
The project was considered by the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of Infrastructure during its meeting last month. It will involve a diversion of approximately 121.47 hectares of forest land and the approval is pending with the forest division of the ministry. What distressed the EAC was that the project proponent, Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority, said the alignment will involve cutting of around 1,80,793 trees and a majority (93%) of them in forest land.
“Tree cutting is very high, which should be minimised. It should be mentioned in the EIA report which type of trees are going to be felled, whether it is commercial plantation or natural plantation/vegetation."
“The alignment of the road should be such that the cutting of trees is kept at a bare minimum and for this, the proponent shall obtain permission from the competent authorities. Alignment should also be such that it will avoid cutting old and large and heritage trees if any."
"All such trees should be geo-tagged, photographed and details submitted in the EIA-EMP (environment management plan) report,” noted the committee as it accorded the ToR.
It said the proponent shall carry out a comprehensive socio-economic assessment and the project’s impact on bio-diversity with emphasis on the impact of land acquisition.
The UP government said consent was received for land acquisition but the EAC said public hearing cannot be exempted.