HC directs NHAI, Punjab to make good shortfall in compensatory plantation along defence road near Pak border
The Bench observed that around 14,000 trees were affected during widening of Abohar-Fazilka road, which was described by NHAI as a defence road of national importance
Taking note of the shortfall in compensatory afforestation along a national highway serving an area of nearly 100 kilometres along the India-Pakistan International Border, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday directed the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the State of Punjab government to make good the deficiency in the ensuing monsoon season.
At the very outset, the Bench observed that around 14,000 trees were affected during the widening of the Abohar-Fazilka road, which was described by the NHAI as a defence road of national importance. But compensatory plantation carried out so far fell short of the statutory requirement of planting five times the number of trees felled.
The Bench headed by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu was told that 63,000 trees were planted as compensatory afforestation. It was also pointed out during the hearing that the land with trees abutting the highway had since been transferred by the NHAI to the State of Punjab in lieu of the land utilised for widening the road and stood declared as protected forest.
The Bench, however, observed the number was still less than five times the trees affected by the road-widening project and made it clear that the shortfall was required to be addressed during the forthcoming monsoon season, when plantation would have a higher survival rate.
The Bench was hearing NHAI’s application against the condition of 10 times afforestation imposed by the court during the previous date of hearing. The NHAI counsel contended that the 10-times plantation requirement was not an absolute rule and could be imposed only in three specific circumstances — diversion of forest land up to one hectare, underground mining without surface rights, or clearing of naturally grown trees for reforestation.
The authority argued that none of those contingencies applied to the present project, which involved diversion of 63.087 hectares of forest land, for which equivalent land had already been transferred to the Punjab government.
NHAI, during the hearing, argued that further plantation would require fresh land acquisition. The Bench, on the other hand, suggested: “Make the forest more dense. As simple as that…. Aren’t you supposed to take a few more steps forward? We are actually in a desperate state so far as ecology is concerned,” the court remarked.
The high court on the previous date of hearing modified its earlier order imposing a complete ban on tree cutting in Punjab to permit the NHAI to proceed with the project. The Bench of Chief Justice Nagu and Justice Sanjiv Berry had at that time made it clear that the modification in the order with regard to the project was subject to stringent environmental safeguards including compensatory afforestation at 10 times the number of trees felled.
