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Mumbai-Nagpur Super Expressway likely to claim 2 lakh trees

The MSRDC in a Right To Information reply to DNA informed that 1.73 lakh trees are to be chopped for a stretch of around 624-km whereas the count for the remaining 80-km stretch is still ongoing.

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The number of trees required to be chopped for the construction of the 704-km-long Mumbai-Nagpur Super Expressway may reach around 2 lakh. The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) in a Right To Information (RTI) reply to DNA informed that 1.73 lakh trees are to be chopped for a stretch of around 624-km whereas the count for the remaining 80-km stretch is still ongoing. 

In the RTI reply to DNA, MSRDC revealed that 2,811 trees on forest land and 32,990 on non-forest land will be chopped in Nagpur region followed by 51,579 trees on forest land and 56,900 trees on non-forest land in Amravati region.

Further, in the case of Marathwada region between Jalna and Aurangabad, MSRDC said, 399 trees will be chopped on forest land and 7,238 trees on non-forest land. For Nashik division, 1,236 trees will be chopped on forest land and 20,347 trees on non-forest land. This takes the cumulative figure of trees being cut in the 624-km stretch to 1,73,500. However, for the Mumbai division between Igatpuri and Bhiwandi, MSRDC has said that the counting is still in progress.  

The alignment of the project passes through many private forests and eco-sensitive zones in Thane and Amravati sections like the Tansa sanctuary and Katepurna and Karanja wildlife sanctuaries.

Meanwhile, the MSRDC has maintained that the equal number of trees or more will be transplanted at several locations. It is also exploring options of translocation of trees wherein a particular tree is not chopped but uprooted and transferred from one place to another. This technique will be used for several old trees and is being studied by the MSRDC.

Close to 60 per cent of the required land has been acquired out of the total around 10,000 hectares of land required for the construction of the Expressway. The construction is expected to start by the end of this year.

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