Public resistance is gathering strength in Uttarakhand again as authorities plan to fell 4,369 trees in the ‘Saat Mod’ area of Dehradun district as part of the Bhaniawala-Jolly Grant-Rishikesh four-/six-lane project. Of these, 754 trees will be transplanted, while 3,605 will be cut.
The Bhaniawala-Jolly Grant-Rishikesh four/six laning project on National Highway 7 is approximately 20 kilometres long. Being built under the Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM), the project will cost approximately Rs 743 crore.
Explaining the need for the project, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) said in a statement, “The existing two-lane road, which passes through the forest, carries approximately 18,456 vehicles daily. This is equivalent to approximately 15,088 Passenger Car Units (PCUs). With traffic expected to increase further due to tourism, airport connectivity, and the Char Dham Yatra, widening the road has become necessary.”
“The current two-lane road has sharp turns, forested terrain, and constant movement of buses, trucks, and heavy vehicles. These factors lead to traffic jams and accidents. The four-lane road will improve the geometry of the road, make the journey comfortable, and modern safety features will make travel safer for both locals and tourists.”
Environmental activist Reenu Paul filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in court, raising concerns about the project’s environmental and elephant corridor destruction. In January of this year, the High Court of Uttarakhand at Nainital closed proceedings on the petition and directed all parties to await the outcome of similar cases pending before the Supreme Court.
Subsequently, while hearing a clarification petition filed by the NHAI in the matter, the high court stated that the interim stay on tree felling, previously imposed in March, had never been extended. This meant that no legal order existed to stop the project.
The high court also stated that the forest department not granting NHAI permission to cut trees is a separate issue and that the NHAI can take separate legal action. The court reiterated that issues related to the elephant corridor and the environment are already pending before the Supreme Court. The apex court’s decisions in cases such as Anita Kandwal vs. State of Uttarakhand are pending. The high court stated that all options are open to all parties.
Paul, the petitioner in the case, told Down To Earth that the NHAI arbitrarily interpreted the court’s decision and began felling trees. She has also filed a contempt of court application in the Supreme Court against the tree felling. Paul expressed hope that the case will be heard the coming week on July 20 or 21.
Dehradun-based environmental activist and civil engineer Ashish Garg submitted an alternative proposal to the NHAI for widening the road. After the NHAI rejected it, he took the matter to court. Garg says the court appreciated his proposal and directed him to submit a detailed plan. He adds that only the government can prepare a detailed project report, as it would involve multiple agencies and be a costly undertaking.
However, amidst all this legal process and complications, the NHAI has begun felling trees in the Saat Mod area. Environmental activists and local citizens are arriving in large numbers to protest. On July 15, people celebrated Kala Harela at Saat Mod as a mark of protest. Harela, dedicated to Lord Shiva and the Goddess Parvati, is a festival dedicated to greenery, agriculture, and environmental protection.
Babita, who participated in the protest, came with her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter. She said it takes a hundred or 200 years for sal trees to grow this large but cutting them down doesn’t take even half an hour. Babita brought her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter because she wants her to learn to fight for her rights.
Meanwhile, NHAI issued a press release on July 10 titled Clarification on Misleading Claims Regarding Environment and Forest Conservation in the Bhaniawala–Jolly Grant–Rishikesh Four/Six Lane Project. The statement quoted Saurabh Singh, Project Director, PIU Dehradun, NHAI, as saying, “Based on technical consultations with the Uttarakhand Forest Department, WWF-India, and the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, elephant underpasses, box culverts, pipe culverts, and other scientific wildlife mitigation measures have been integrated into the project design to ensure safe movement of elephants and other wildlife while also significantly reducing wildlife roadkills on the existing road.”
Additionally, 40 hectares of non-forest land has been transferred by the state government to the forest department for the purpose of compensatory afforestation and increasing the green cover in the state, so that new forests can be developed on a large scale in the future. NHAI has also claimed that of the 4,369 trees affected by the project, 754 will be transplanted based on the scientific assessment of the Forest Research Institute, while the remaining trees will be managed in accordance with regulations.
But tree transplantation in Uttarakhand has a poor record. In 2022, more than 2,200 trees were felled to widen the Sahasradhara Road. More than 900 were also transplanted, but most of these transplants were unsuccessful.
A plot of land right in front of the Rajiv Gandhi Cricket Stadium in the Raipur locality of Dehradun, where many of these trees were transplanted, is now being called a ‘tree graveyard’ because almost all the transplanted trees there have become dry stumps.
The extent of damage to greenery in Uttarakhand after it became a separate state is evident from the reply to a Right To Information filed by Dehradun-based activist Anoop Nautiyal.
Nautiyal explains that over 46,000 hectares of forest area has been given up for roads, mining, and other development activities in Uttarakhand over the past 25 years—an average of 5 hectares per day. Dehradun district has seen the highest forest transfers for development. Dehradun comprises approximately six per cent of the state’s total land area, but 47 per cent of the total forest transfers during this period occurred in Dehradun alone.