PWD submits revised UG Canal road plan to minimise tree loss

The public works department has sent a revised estimate plan to the Uttar Pradesh government about change in alignment of the Ilkm Upper Ganga Canal road project, expecting that the plan will also reduce the tree felling, officials said on Tuesday.

- Peeyush Khandelwal

The under-construction two-lane road project alongside the Upper Ganga Canal links Ghaziabad’s Muradnagar to Purkaji near the UP-Uttarakhand border. The project cost was estimated at ₹658 crore.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) is currently hearing the matter of building the road that passes through ecologically sensitive areas, after taking cognizance of an HT report (February 1, 2024), about how the UP government's forest department approved to fell about 112,722 trees and shrubs in the protected forests of three forest divisions — Ghaziabad, Meerut, and Muzaffarnagar—to build two lanes of the road.

"The PWD has submitted a revised plan and estimate of change in alignment of the road.