Gurugram: 122 trees to be felled for Dwarka Expressway

GURUGRAM: In a major boost to the construction of the Dwarka Expressway, the district forest office has given its nod to fell over 120 trees along the stretch in the Gurugram portion. A survey will also be carried out by Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) to identify encroached land along the connecting Central Peripheral Road (CPR).
Officials said a total of 122 trees, including one shisham and three eucalyptus, will be felled along the Gurugram stretch of Dwarka Expressway.However, the permission to fell trees on the Delhi portion of the Dwarka Expressway is still awaited.

“The district forest office has given the permission on the condition that the trees will not be uprooted and the wood will not be dragged. There should be no use of fire during the process of tree-felling,” an official told TOI.

Meanwhile, HSVP has acquired around 94 acres of land for building the connecting CPR. The land has been acquired from Harsuru, Sihi, Mohammadpur, Jharsa and Narsinghpur villages. However, there are high tension overhead cables crossing over around 10 acres of land. The cables will have to be shifted before that stretch of land is used for the construction of the highway, officials said.

Moreover, there are some nine structures that are yet to be vacated by officials. The matter is under litigation due to which the acquisition process has been delayed. As a result, the authority hasn’t been able to clear the land for the proposed rotary near Kherki Daula on CPR.
“Now, a survey will be conducted by HSVP to identify the plots that are yet to be vacated and are still encroached. The survey will identify the plots that are yet to be acquired and what is causing the delay on the already acquired plots,” said a senior HSVP official. “We are in the process of land transfer from Dwarka Expressway and CPR to NHAI,” he added.
HSVP has already handed over 10.2km land to NHAI. While, most of the construction for phases 2 and 3 are being completed by NHAI, the transfer of land for phase 4 is in final stages. The plan is to inaugurate the expressway by the end of 2019.