Over 5,100 trees felled in Delhi for Dehradun e-way, says NHAI in RTI reply

According to the reply, 5,104 trees were felled between Akshardham and the Delhi–Uttar Pradesh border. An additional 1,055 trees were axed on the stretch from Delhi-UP border to the Eastern Peripheral Expressway

New Delhi

The stretch in Ghaziabad, as seen in 2024. (HT Archive)

Over 5,100 trees have been chopped in Delhi, besides over a 1,000 in other areas, for the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway project, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said in its response to a Right To Information (RTI) query. But, it failed to provide any detail on afforestry compensation or information on how many trees were replanted and survived.

According to the reply, 5,104 trees were felled between Akshardham and the Delhi–Uttar Pradesh border. An additional 1,055 trees were axed on the stretch from Delhi-UP border to the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) junction, taking the total number of trees cut within a 31-kilometre span to 6,159.

“No trees were transplanted under the jurisdiction of this office,” the response by NHAI stated.

The RTI, filed by Noida resident Amit Gupta, a copy of which was accessed by HT, sought information on tree felling, transplantation, and afforestation linked to the expressway stretch passing through Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. The reply, issued by the NHAI’s Project Implementation Unit (PIU) of Ghaziabad, shows that tree cutting has been substantial but compensatory efforts remain opaque.

The Delhi-Dehradun Expressway, a flagship project of the Centre, is expected to cut travel time between the two cities to just two-and-a-half hours. But along its route, it has already faced criticism for large-scale deforestation in Delhi, Ghaziabad and Uttarakhand. Most of the expressway stretch in Delhi is nearly complete, and is expected to be made operational by October.