RTI points to need for felling 2,000 trees for widening of roads in Delhi
2 Jun, 2013The reply to an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has revealed that a large number of trees might be needed to be axed for a road widening project though they are not in project alignment.
The reply to the application, provided by the Public Works Department (PWD), stated that for widening of the main carriageway and development of service roads and footpath in the Meera Bagh-Vikas Puri and Mangol Puri-Madhuban Chowk elevated road project on the outer ring road in West Delhi, almost 2,000 trees need to be felled.
The green activists have now written to the chief minister of Delhi, secretary to the ministry of environment and the National Green Tribunal appealing that felling of fully grown trees on such a large scale is unnecessary as the identified trees are located along the service lanes and not on the central verge implying that they do not fall in the alignment of the project. The activists have appealed to the government to accommodate the trees in landscaping planned below the proposed elevated road as the project map has the provision of a green belt of 2,64,000 sq m.