Nearly 14,300 trees are likely to be felled during the construction work of Delhi Metro's third phase.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has submitted a tentative proposal indicating removal of 14,298 trees for construction of following of metro lines in Phase-III,” the Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Ms Jayanthi Natarajan, said in a written reply to Lok Sabha on Monday.
On whether the Government has done any assessment about how felling of trees would effect the environment, Ms Natarajan replied in negative, but said, “The applications for removal of trees are scrutinised in accordance with the provisions made in the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994 and the Forest Act, 1980 on case-to-case basis before according approval to reduce the adverse effect on environment.
The Minister noted that the Department of Forests and Wildlife carries out the compensatory plantation in ratio of 1:10 under the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act for which the cost of plantation is provided by the DMRC.
The Phase-III of the Delhi Metro envisages to connect another 103 km to the network by 2016 at an expected cost of over Rs 30,000 crore.