The work on the Rs 3,580 crore project of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway passing through the city is being delayed for want of approval from the Forest Department to axe 2,935 trees, besides other factors. The authorities concerned are yet to grant the right of way of 70 metre width on both sides of the bypass here to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). The right to way demand was taken up last year.
“Around 2,500 trees on the right side (Delhi to Palwal) of the road have already been removed, but there are another 2,935 trees on the left side of the road that have not been axed in the absence of the approval of the Forest Department,” says an NHAI official. The NHAI had written a letter to the DFO, Faridabad, on June 6, 2019, seeking permission to fell trees, but the approval was yet to be granted. This has resulted in an inordinate delay in handing over the land to the contractor, who has been awarded the project,” he says.
