SC Clears The Path For Delhi-Dehradun Expressway, For Which 11,000 Trees Will Be Cut

The Supreme Court has reconstituted an expert panel formed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to oversee the compensatory afforestation along with other mitigation measures for the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway.

A bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud said that CP Goyal, Director-General of Forests in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, will be the chairperson of the expert committee.

PTI

It will also include Anil Prakash Joshi, founder of Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation (HESCO), and environmentalist Vijay Dhasmana as additional members.

The apex court's ruling came on a plea filed by an NGO -- Citizens for Green Doon -- challenging the NGT order, which paved the way for Delhi-Dehradun Expressway construction, after the constitution of an expert panel.

File Photo

The NGT gave go-ahead to the Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor Expressway, which is expected to reduce travel time by four hours.

Delhi-Dehradun Expressway

Delhi-Dehradun Expressway will directly connect the two cities after crisscrossing areas like Loni, Baghpat, Shamli, Saharanpur, and Ganeshpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Uttarakhand will have 3.6 kilometres of the expressway while around 16 kilometres will pass through Uttar Pradesh.

The new six-lane highway will reduce the travel time from 6.5 hours to just 2.5 hours as per the plan of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and would have a 12-kilometer elevated road to protect the wildlife and forests.

BCCL

Earlier, on November 16, last year the top court had remanded back to the NGT a plea of the NGO challenging forest clearances granted to the Expressway which will reduce travel time between the two cities.

Environmental concerns

The top court had till the time NGT took up the matter stayed felling of around 11,000 trees and plants on the Ganeshpur-Dehradun Road (NH-72A) stretch, which is part of the Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor.

Last week, Attorney General KK Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, had said that this project should not be stayed in the public interest as all necessary clearances were taken by the NHAI.

What the Government said in court

¡°Years of planning have gone into it before the project was started. This project takes care of wildlife and forests in the area and for the first time in the country a 12 kilometer elevated road is being constructed above the forests to not disrupt the path of elephants and other wild animals,¡± he had said.

BCCL/ Representational Image

He had said that this road without blocking the elephant corridor or the path of any other wild animals will allow smooth travel of vehicles and would reduce the travel time between the two cities.

On November 11, last year the top court had directed the Centre that there should not be any tree felling on the Ganeshpur-Dehradun Road (NH-72A), which is a part of the Delhi-Dehradun expressway till November 16.

On September 7, last year the top court had refused to entertain a PIL filed by the NGO challenging the forest and wildlife clearances given to Ganeshpur-Dehradun Road (NH-72A) stretch and asked them to first move the NGT with its grievances.

The top court had noted that stage one forest clearance was given in September last year and wildlife clearance was given on January 5, 2021, for a 19.78-km-long stretch of the road from Ganeshpur (in UP) to Dehradun.

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