Axing of 1,024 trees for widening Karnal road

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, October 18

Work on widening of the 5-km stretch on the Karnal-Kachwa state highway has started. After getting the nod from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the Forest Department has started axing 1,024 trees. Half of the trees have already been axed.

The Karnal-Kachwa-Pehowa-Patilal road is a busy and accident-prone road. It links Karnal with Kaithal, Kurukshetra and Patiala districts. The stretch near the city gets congested due to heavy traffic, leading to traffic jams and accidents.

The project for four-laning of the 5-km stretch has been approved by the government. The 7-metre-wide road will be 15 metres wide after completion, said Dalel Singh Dahiya, XEN, PWD (B&R).

The project would cost Rs 17 crore and the payment in lieu of axing had been deposited with the Forest Department, he added.

“We have started the process of axing 1,024 trees. Half of the trees have been axed and the remaining will be axed soon,” said Ravinder Kumar, DFO (Production).

“As per directions of the Ministry of Environment, we have earmarked land for planting double the number of saplings. We will start plantation work soon,” said Vijender Singh, District Forest Officer.