Forest dept nod to clear 921 trees for New Delhi railway station revamp

The Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA), which is undertaking the project, will also have to carry out compensatory afforestation of 9,210 saplings (10 for each tree removed) across Delhi, said officials.

The New Delhi railway station (NDLS) redevelopment project has received clearance from the state forest and wildlife department to remove 921 of the total 2,980 trees currently present at the project site, with forest officials saying that only 36 trees will be cut and the other 885 will be transplanted elsewhere. The remaining 2,059 trees will be incorporated within the NDLS revamp design.

The Rail Land Development Authority is undertaking the New Delhi railway station revamp. (Picture for representation only/HT)

The Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA), which is undertaking the project, will also have to carry out compensatory afforestation of 9,210 saplings (10 for each tree removed) across Delhi, said officials.

A senior forest official in the central division, under whose jurisdiction the project falls, said based on a proposal sent by RLDA in December, the department carried out a site inspection and identified the 36 trees to be cut.

“The call was based on the species types, the age of the trees, whether they were invasive or not and whether the trees will survive the transplantation. Most of the trees sought to be removed were found fit for transplantation and over 2,000 trees present at the project site will be untouched,” the official said.

Officials said the permission for the project, which was granted under the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act (DPTA), 1994, could have been delayed “two-three months” if an earlier forest department survey had classified the area as a “deemed forest”. In such a case, officials said, the project would have required further permissions from the stringent Forest Conservation Act, 1980.

“This criteria was not met and therefore the clearance was granted under the DPTA, allowing the project to proceed further,” the official added.

The forest department, based on a 1996 Supreme Court judgement, considers any area in Delhi as a “deemed forest” if it has more than 250 trees per hectare.

VP Dudeja, Vice Chairman, RLDA, said that only a clearance from the Delhi Urban Art Commission remained to begin the project. “We are now proceeding with the project plans and bids for the first phase can be invited by March end,” he said.

In the first phase, RLDA plans to redevelop the station complex, create a multi-modal transit hub, including multi-level car parking, and develop road infrastructure leading up to the new-look station. The station is being redeveloped on the transit-oriented development (TOD) policy and officials said it will be built keeping world-class standards, with dome-shaped terminal buildings which will have separate arrivals and departures.

Surrounding the station will be a 40-floor-high twin towers consisting of retail and office spaces, and a pedestrian boulevard with high-end shopping outlets is also being developed in the area.

Of the 160 acres where new developments have been proposed, work on around 85 acres will be taken up in the first phase, at a cost of ₹6,500 crore, officials said.