200 trees 'felled' for Chandigarh's 1st green corridor along N-Choe

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 7

As part of development of city’s first green corridor, several green trees have been axed on a 500-metre stretch along the N-Choe in Sector 42. The UT Administration, however, says it is a routine clearing process that is carried out along all seasonal rivulets annually ahead of the monsoon season.

Unnecessary exercise

Nearly 200 trees have been felled unnecessarily to make way for corridor. There is no justification for removing green cover for a green corridor.

— LR Budaniya, an environmentalist

Raising concerns over unnecessary removal of trees, LR Budaniya, an environmentalist, says nearly 200 small and big trees have been felled to make way for the corridor along the N-Choe. There is no justification for removing green cover for a corridor, he says.

UT Chief Engineer CB Ojha, however, says green trees have not been felled and only wild growth has been removed along an existing cycle track.

Wild growth removed

A track already exists along rivulet and there is no need for new one. It was covered with wild growth, which has now been cleared for movement of bicycles.

— CB Ojha, UT Chief Engineer

“A track already exists along the rivulet and there is no need for a new one,” he says, adding the existing track had been covered with wild growth, which has now been cleared for the movement of bicycles on the track.

In a move towards making Chandigarh a green, clean and smart city, UT Adviser Dharam Pal had last Thursday carried out the ground-breaking ceremony of the first non-motorised transport (NMT) green corridor in the city. The stretch where the trees have been felled is close to where the ceremony took place.

The 8-km corridor with lighting facility will connect the Capitol Complex to Sector 56, Chandigarh, which will run along N-Choe from north to south of the city. The work will be completed in nine months.

The construction of the NMT green corridor will provide sustainable and eco-friendly modes of transportation, while creating a safer and more accessible environment for pedestrians and cyclists.

In all, 11 NMT green corridors are proposed to be constructed connecting northern and southern parts of the city. In this context, the work on the first NMT green corridor has been started.

The site survey/feasibility report of the second NMT Green Corridor is being carried out jointly by the Department of Urban Planning and Engineering Department, UT, in June. The tender for the second corridor is likely to be invited in July and the work will start in August.

The Adviser had recently directed completion of the feasibility study/survey of the remaining nine NMT corridors in a time-bound manner so that work on all corridors could be started in a phased manner.

100 axed outside Sectt in Feb

In Feb, 100 trees were felled outside UT Secretariat and matter had reached High Court. UT then gave an undertaking not to fell more trees at site. HC had made it clear Secretary Forests would be held liable if health of trees was not assessed before going ahead with drive.

Felling Site close to ground-breaking event

• UT Adviser had last week carried out ground-breaking ceremony of city’s first non-motorised transport green corridor; site is close to where trees have been felled
• 8-km corridor for cyclists & pedestrians will connect Capitol Complex to Sec 56 along N-Choe from north to south; work will be completed in 9 months
• 11 corridors are proposed to be constructed; site survey/feasibility report of second corridor is being carried out; work on it is likely to start in August

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