HYDERABAD: Around 3,000 trees, including 1,300 teak trees — of which around 200 are more than 1 metre in girth — will require to be axed as per a new road widening proposal inside the Eco Sensitive Zone of Kawal Tiger Reserve, in a location where tiger movement has been confirmed by Forest Department officials.The road widening proposal by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has already been recommended by the Telangana government and forest clearance is being sought from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF).
The MoRTH seeks to widen a stretch of road on National Highway 61 between Nirmal and Khanapur at a cost of `141 crore, for which it is seeking forest clearance for the diversion of 17.4 hectares (Ha) of forest land — 12.8 Ha in Nirmal forest division and 4.6 Ha in Khanapur division. The diversion is being sought for a stretch of 7.7 kilometres, of which trees have to be axed on both sides of the road on a 3.9 km stretch and on one side of a 3.8 km stretch.
As per the reports submitted by District Forest Officers of Nirmal and Khanapur, the stretch of road to be widened is located adjacent to Mamda reserved forest in Nirmal and Maskapur reserved forest in Khanapur.
Both District Forest Officers admitted that there was tiger movement in the area. NH 61 connects Bhiwandi in Maharashtra and Jagtial in Telangana. As per the reports by DFOs, 2,106 trees in Nirmal division and 948 trees in Khanapur division have been enumerated in the proposed area for diversion.As part of the application seeking forest clearance, the MoRTH has to provide a justification for seeking forest clearance, in which it has mentioned that the Union Ministry had accorded administrative and financial sanction last year in January and that ‘there is no alternative to that of widening of the existing road.’