UP govt reduces tree felling area for Upper Ganga Canal road project
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) is presently hearing a suo motu petition about felling, taken up alongside the Upper Ganga Canal
Ghaziabad: The Uttar Pradesh public works department has decided to reduce the tree felling area for a proposed 111km Upper Ganga Canal (UGC) road project that may see cutting about 112,000 trees/shrubs in Ghaziabad, Meerut and Muzaffarnagar districts, officials said, adding the move may reduce felling by an estimated 10 percent.
There is also a proposal to relocate, instead of felling, about 400 trees to the other side of the canal in Ghaziabad, they added.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) is presently hearing a suo motu petition about felling, taken up alongside the Upper Ganga Canal.
“The tribunal asked us to save as many trees as possible. Considering this, the previous felling for the road and earthen sideway was on an area of about 20 metres (in width). Now, the felling will be reduced within 15 metres. This will save many trees from felling. Although a final figure will be assessed when final felling figures arrive, we estimate about 10 per cent of trees/shrubs could be saved in the process,” said Ram Raja, executive engineer, PWD.
The tribunal has taken cognisance of a Hindustan Times report, dated February 1, about how the state government’s forest department gave nod to fell about 112,722 trees and shrubs in the protected forests of three forest divisions — Ghaziabad, Meerut and Muzaffarnagar — to construct two lanes of the road project (popularly known as Kanwar Marg).
The project, costing about ₹658 crore, is taken up by UP public works department (PWD).
Official figures indicate that about 16,873 trees/shrubs will be felled for the project in Muzaffarnagar, 66,685 in Meerut and about 29,164 in Ghaziabad district.
Moreover, the divisional forest department officials said that about 400 trees will be transplanted, and about 86 of these have been transplanted so far, Ghaziabad.
“We cannot estimate but the reduced width will lead to saving a decent number of trees. The felling activity has already started in Ghaziabad,” said Isha Tiwari, divisional forest officer (DFO).
The felling is taken up under supervision of the forest corporation and the forest department also conducts inspections to ensure that there is no illegal felling, the DFO said.
The UGC already has a metalled road on the eastern embankment while the newly proposed road is run along the western embankment.
The tribunal, on July 8, observed that the counsels for the state of UP submitted that the original width of the proposed road was 20 metres, which at some places has been reduced to 15 metres to minimise the felling of trees. But there were allegations by the proposed interveners in the case that the trees have been cut much beyond the said permission/decision.
“To ascertain the correct position, we direct the Survey of India to file the satellite image of the stretch under consideration showing the extent of trees which have been cut on both sides of canal…,” the tribunal said in its order on July 8.
On July 25, the NGT directed for “fresh communication be sent to the Survey of India” for filing the satellite images.
Environmentalists said that many of the trees in the region are old and need to be saved.
“Felling of any number of trees alongside the canal will affect biodiversity, environment and will also displace wildlife. Only the satellite imagery can estimate the extent of trees which will be felled and also the number of trees which can be saved,” said Sushil Raghav, a city-based environmentalist.
During an earlier hearing on March 13, the NGT had directed the UP forest department and district magistrates of the three districts to file detailed responses about the trees/plants that need to be felled.
The report, later submitted before the tribunal, stated that the felling activity would be taken up on about 222.98 hectares in the three districts.
The report mentioned that against the 112,722 trees/plants proposed to be felled for the project, 484,720 saplings, as part of compensatory afforestation, will be planted in Lalitpur, Mirzapur and Sonbhadra, and 21,028 plants will planted in the Meerut district/forest division near the project.
The districts of Lalitpur, Mirzapur and Sonbhadra are respectively about 550km, 767km and 848km away from Ghaziabad.