Swachh Indore Loses 170-Acre Forest
Indore, the country’s cleanest city fourth year running, is going to be shorn of around 170 acres of forest land to make way for the Indore-Icchapur highway. The city is still scarred by the hacking of 75 acres of forest land two years ago to build a metro rail depot. ‘Compensatory plantation’ was done in Dhar district. However, Indore’s loss was permanent. NHAI officials say 69 hectares (170 acres) has been earmarked in Choral jungle to build 18km of the 201km-long highway to Icchapur in Burhanpur district, close to the Maharashtra border. The highway is expected to be built by 2025. The process to acquire land is on. In response to NHAI's demand for land, Indore forest authorities have started counting trees on 170 acres of forest, which is in 11 ‘compartments’ of Choral jungle. “After completing the count of trees, we will ask NHAI to plant at least twice as many saplings on similar area, which will be provided as compensation for the forest land,” the DFO said. Compensatory plantation doesn’t have a dazzling record in most parts of the country. Also, since Indore district doesn’t have such a large tract of revenue land, it’s likely that the state government will compensate by providing land in nearby districts, just as it did for the Metro acquisition.
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