NHAI Opts to Cut 3000 Trees Without Planning Afforestation

Dwarka Expressway which will connect Gurugram and Delhi is a great example of development. However, development at the cost of nature is not acceptable, especially in an age where pollution is causing numerous health issues in people. According to an NGO, Society for Protection of Culture, Heritage, Environment, Traditions, and Promotion of National Awareness (SP-CHETNA), nearly 3,000 trees were cut in exchange for a promised plantation of 3,500 trees for the Dwarka Expressway Package-2. A plea has been filed regarding this issue with the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

The major concern of the NGO is that the survival rate of the transplanted trees was not assessed before the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) was instructed to cut 3,000 trees. Apart from this, they are also concerned about where the compensatory plantation will take place since open land is scarce in Delhi. The NGT bench is headed by chairperson Justice A. K. Goel who has directed the principal chief conservator of forest to file a report on this issue within a month.

Forest department has borne the brunt of deforestation earlier in June 2018 too when it gave permission to cut down trees in South Delhi in favor of the redevelopment of seven government colonies. After much hue and cry, the permission was rescinded. Despite coming up with a draft for 80% indigenous tree transplantation policy in any project in February, the forest department has been drawing flak. The draft is being criticized by both activists and experts because of the last experience of the government in Pragati Maidan where merely 3% of the trees were found to be fit for transplantation. Repeated attempts to contact Ishwar Singh, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, were futile. However, a senior forest official did confirm that NHAI had been given permission for cutting down of trees. The details of the same, however, were not available.