From Aravali To Bullet Train, How Environment Has Become A Lesser Priority In Quest For Development

It has been a long-standing debate infrastructure or environment. Development and infrastructure, most of the times come at the expense of the environment and often inflicts irreparable to nature. Despite this every so often we come across the news about approvals for clearing massive amounts of forest land to make way for huge infrastructure projects.

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Between 2015-18, a whopping 20,000 hectares of forest land, almost the size of Kolkata has been used for developmental activities such as mining, thermal power plants, dams, road, railways and irrigation projects.

In December 2018 the government had informed the Parliament that a total of 20,314.12 hectares of forest land was diverted in three years 2015-2018 (till December 13, 2018). During this period, the government received a total of 4,552 proposals and of those 1,280 (28.11 percent) got approved.

Here are some of the major infrastructure projects and how it is impacting the environment.

1. Aarey Forest in Mumbai

Aarey Forest, the world¡¯s only forest in the middle of a modern metropolis is facing a threat from the construction of a car shed for Mumbai Metro. And for this, the Maharashtra Government denotified 33 hectares of thick urban forest as an eco-sensitive zone.

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Environmentalists say destroying Mumbai's last patch of greenery will have a devastating impact on the air quality, pollution and groundwater levels of India's financial capital.

2. Mangroves in Mumbai

The nearly 1 lakh crore Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train is one of the biggest infrastructure projects undertaken in India so far. The massive construction also comes at the expense of over 13.36-hectare mangroves which will be cleared for the project. Mangroves play a key role in controlling soil erosion, flooding and maintaining groundwater levels.

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This is in addition to the damage the construction will cause to the Thane Creek Flamingo Sanuatury where the bullet train will pass through an underground corridor.

3. Trees in Delhi

Last year while Delhi was still breathing toxic air and was grappling with pollution, the Union Forest Ministry gave clearance to cut some 16,500 full grown trees in South Delhi to make way for redeveloping of Central government accommodations in the area.

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But after an unprecedented public protest, the courts intervened and banned the cutting of the trees spread across Sarojini Nagar, Nauroji Nagar, Netaji Nagar, Thyagraj Nagar, Mohammadpur, Kasturba Nagar and Sriniwaspuri.

4. Aravalli hills and forest in Haryana

Earlier this year the Haryana government passed the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA) amendment bill, 2019, which will in effect open up the Aravallis to real estate development.

It opened up around 38 villages and 17,000 acres of Aravali land in Gurgaon, and 17 villages and 10,450 acres of the Aravallis in Faridabad for constructions which would have further reduced the forest cover in Haryana which is already the worst in India (3.5%).

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But before any construction activities could start the Supreme Court intervened and told the Haryana Government not to take any action that will affect the ecological balance of the Aravalli hills and forest.

5. Trees in Bengaluru

Last year the Karnataka Government had proposed to cut a total of 3,281 trees and prune 2,084 trees to build a network of elevated corridors that will span the length and breadth of the city.

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However, the move did not go down well with the citizens who came out in large numbers to protest against the project and demanding that the trees should be saved. After massive public protests, in March the Karnataka government assured the public that it won't go ahead with the project without public consultations.