The highway will begin from DND Maharani Bagh and extend till the Delhi-Mumbai expressway, on which work is underway. (file)The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been granted stage one clearance to divert a little more than 3 hectares of protected forest land in Delhi for the construction of a six-lane access-controlled highway from DND Maharani Bagh to the Jaitpur Pushta Road section of NH-148NA.
The project, which will extend for 59 km, is being implemented under the Bharatmala Pariyojana. The highway will begin from DND Maharani Bagh and extend till the Delhi-Mumbai expressway, on which work is underway. The section for which forest clearance was sought comprises package one of the project.
The forest land that is being diverted is in the southeast district and is located in Okhla, Jasola and Madanpur Khadar. The area is under the South Forest Division in Delhi.
Clearance has been granted by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, to remove 804 trees from the forest land that is being diverted.
The Department of Forest and Wildlife of the Delhi government had informed the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change that compensatory afforestation to be taken up in lieu of the land that is being diverted will be done on equivalent non-forest land at the NTPC Eco Park in Badarpur. The land was part of the Badarpur thermal power station.
A communication from the deputy inspector general of forests (central) to the Delhi forest department had earlier noted that the proposed compensatory afforestation land is covered with fly-ash. The forest department has informed the ministry that the site was earlier a dumping ground for fly-ash, and earth filling of up to 2 m height is required before plantation is undertaken.
Prior to stage two approval, the land on which compensatory afforestation is being undertaken will have to be transferred and mutated in the name of the forest department. The forest land will then be handed over to the user agency.