Pune: NHAI Faces Strong Criticism from NGT: Instructed to Pay Rs 23 Crore for Reforestation

Pune, 8th March 2024: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) bench strongly criticized the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), instructing the Forest Department to allocate Rs 23 crore for the reforestation of Pune, Ahmednagar, and Nashik districts along the Pune-Nashik highway. NHAI has been given a one-month deadline to fulfil this payment to the forest department.

The Pune-Nashik highway project concluded in 2017, during which NHAI had cut down a significant number of trees. Despite regulations requiring NHAI to replant an equivalent number of trees to those removed for highway construction, the documentation revealed that NHAI had only reported the planted trees without actual implementation. NHAI, in response to Right to Information inquiries, falsely claimed to have planted the trees.

Environmental activist Ganesh Borhade, based in Ahmednagar, had submitted a petition to the NGT bench in 2020. His plea was for NHAI to be mandated to plant ten trees for every tree removed during the Pune-Nashik highway construction. The earlier directive from the NGT bench stipulated that NHAI should plant 10 trees for each felled one, and the social forest department was entrusted with the responsibility of tree planting, with NHAI being obligated to cover the associated costs.

NHAI failed to make the required payment to the forest department, citing the absence of a bank account number for the department. NHAI claimed that this hindered the tree-planting initiative. However, the NGT has now directed NHAI to make the payment to the forest department within a month, and the funds will be directly deposited into the department’s bank account. The next hearing on this matter is scheduled for April 10.

The NGT’s directive includes allocations for tree planting in three districts: Rs 23 crore 40 lakh for Pune district, Rs 8 crore 96 lakh for Ahmednagar district, and Rs 3 crore 54 lakh for Nashik district. NHAI is mandated to deposit these amounts directly into the Forest Department’s account.

Vivek Khandekar, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, explained, “The trees were cut down in the Khed to Sinnar phase for the Pune–Nashik highway under the Pune zone of the Forest Department. NHAI is responsible for the tree-planting initiative, and the Forest Department will commence the work once the funds are received from NHAI.”