Over 9k trees may be axed as Jolly Grant airport expansion gets conditional nod for forest diversion; wildlife clearance remains.
Dehradun: The proposed expansion of Jolly Grant airport has cleared a key procedural stage, with a Project Screening Committee (PSC) granting conditional approval for the proposal of diversion of 49.6 hectares of forest land.
The project is accepted by the PSC subject to the condition of garnering wildlife clearance, translocation of native tree species and a certificate of compensatory afforestation land, underlining the ecological sensitivity of the project.The PSC includes senior officials from the district administration, forest department and the user agency, Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA). Once the PSC accepts the proposal, it is forwarded for the next stage clearances.The meeting was held last month, and its minutes were released recently. The expansion will require the felling of around 9,300 trees. According to forest officials, the main species include khair, sheesham, teak, amaltas, kanju, bhimal, kachnar and kukat.At the meeting, Dehradun forest division officials informed that of the total 9,307 affected trees, 2,490 fall in the 0–10cm diameter class and 3,782 in the 10–20cm class, taking the total in these categories to 6,272 trees.
The PSC chairman directed forest officials to prepare a plan for translocation of trees, and the user agency agreed to bear the cost.As the forest land falls within the Shivalik Elephant Reserve, wildlife clearance is also required. Officials were informed in the first PSC meeting last year that the proposed alignment falls in an eco-sensitive zone and would require approval from the authorities concerned.Forest division officials said the process for online clearance has been initiated and a proposal will be sent to the State Board for Wildlife.Of the total proposed alignment, 7.20 hectares will be used for a new approach road, 33.90 hectares for airport expansion and 8.59 hectares for the runway strip.A senior UCADA official said in-principle approval has been granted for land acquisition for the project. The next stage involves finalising compensation for affected landowners. The process is expected to be completed in the next couple of months, after which the land will be handed over to the Airports Authority of India (AAI).Airport authorities, however, said they have not received any official communication regarding the approval. Jolly Grant airport director BCH Negi told TOI that there has been no formal confirmation so far.The expansion is expected to allow operations of larger aircraft and improve air connectivity to Dehradun.(With inputs from Gaurav Talwar)
