According to plans, a compulsory afforestation plan has to be carried out over 117 hectares of degraded forest land in Dahanu.
If all goes according to the plan, the multi-billion dollar freight corridor will bring some green cover to the Dahanu area in the northern tip of the state. As a part of the environment commitments binding on the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation (DFCC) which is building the Rs81,500 crore freight corridor, the firm has to plant trees in return for getting permission to acquire the 58 hectares of forest land in Maharashtra to construct the high-speed, high-tonnage freight corridor.
According to plans, a compulsory afforestation plan has to be carried out over 117 hectares of degraded forest land in Dahanu. The work of afforestation would be done by the forest department of the state government while DFCC would be financing the move. The firm has already deposited Rs4.36 crore with the forest department for the programme.
In place of 12,000 trees that it will be cut along the 173km stretch of the corridor, that runs through Maharashtra, the DFCC will have to plant 75,548 trees in Dahanu. "This work is estimated to cost Rs3.91 crore and the DFCC has already deposited the amount in the forest department's account. This is around 6 trees at Dahanu for every tree we would be felling for the line in Maharashtra," said an official.
Among the 12,000 trees that will be cut for the project, a total of 1,338 trees are in land declared as forest by the state government. This includes 279 trees inside Sanjay Gandhi National Park. The issue has been the topic of debate of late among some sections of the environmentalists in Mumbai though the issue itself was cleared way back in 2013 by the Supreme Court.
However, DFCC officials are unfazed and believe the debate about felling of trees is nothing but posturing. "The project has been examined by various wildlife boards, environment committees and above all the High Court and the Supreme Court. How can there be a debate after the highest courts have given approval for a project that will actually help the environment through the substitution of diesel with electricity," asked an official.
Studies done by various experts on the environment impact of the freight corridor shows that thanks to its usage of electricity instead of the railway's staple of diesel in its freight train operations, the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) would be around 3.83 million tonnes in the year 2041-42 against 26.86 million tonnes if there was no DFCC.
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