16.12.16

Karnala will lose 4 acres of forest


The Maharashtra state government has given the final nod to clear four acres (1.65 hectares) of reserved forest for the widening of the Mumbai-Goa highway through the Karnala bird sanctuary .
What this means is that approximately 400 trees will be cut in the reserved forest area. But overall in the eco-sensitive zone around the sanctuary , around 1,000 trees will be cut. The highway is to be widened from the current two lanes to four lanes and is part of the Panvel-Goa-Kochi highway . The project is being executed by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). To accommodate the widening of the highway and the construction of the Navi Mumbai international airport, the eco-sensitive zone around the bird sanctuary was reduced from 10 km to 8 km. The final ESZ notification was issued in January .
The bird sanctuary is spread over 12.1 sq km and the eco-sensitive zone that has been finalised is spread over 30.57 sq km ranging from 0 metres to 8 km from the boundary of the park. It is spread over 18 villages of Uran and Panvel taluka in Raigad district. The sanctuary has a rich variety of woodland birds including rare bird species. It has around 147 resident bird species and 37 migrant bird species, including Ashy minivet and heart-spotted woodpecker. The state revenue and forest department has granted sanction to cut down trees on the condition that all requirements laid out by the Centre and the state government will be fulfilled within a year. The reserved forest that is sought to be cut down is part of Kahale village in Panvel, Raigad.
Recently the Centre issued a draft on mitigation measures to be followed for linear infrastructure projects such as roads, railway and telecom lines that pass through forests.The report will be formally released in Delhi on Friday .
In September last, the National Green Tribunal while allowing widening of highway , had directed the forest department to ensure compliances and submit a six-monthly report over three years. NHAI has been directed to carry out compensatory afforestation.

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