NGT directs NHAI to plant trees within 10 kms of Gururgam Rewari highway, work on project likely to be stopped

Gurugram: The construction works on the Gurugram-Rewari national highway is likely to get delayed as the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to find a land within 10km of the project for planting 80,000 saplings as a “compensatory afforestation”, said officials on Sunday

Gurugram: The construction works on the Gurugram-Rewari national highway is likely to get delayed as the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to find a land within 10km of the project for planting 80,000 saplings as a “compensatory afforestation”, said officials on Sunday.

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While hearing a petition filed by several environmentalists from Gurugram, a three-judge bench of NGT observed that “it will be the responsibility of the project’s promoter to find a suitable land for the compensatory afforestation, and get approval from the forest department for the same. After NGT’s direction, the forest department said that “it is likely to halt the construction works in view of the directions on Saturday”.

“We have observed that several trees have already been cut along the area, but we cannot allow that any further. Also trees need to be planted as compensatory afforestation,” reads the NGT order.

The work on the four-lane 43km highway project, connecting Gurugram, Rewari, and Pataudi started in 2020, and Union minister Nitin Gadkari laid the foundation stone for the project in July 2020.