After Mumbai-Nagpur ‘Samruddhi’ Corridor, Surat-Chennai highway passes through Nashik district. The highway passes through Surgana, Peth, Dindori, Nashik, Niphad and Sinnar talukas of the district and land in 69 villages of six talukas will be acquired for it. A total of 995 hectares of land will have to be acquired by the district administration. In this, 196 hectares of land within the limits of Nashik West Forest Department at Nanashi in Dindori taluka and Bare in Surgana taluka will be affected.

Earlier, thousands of trees were cut down in Igatpuri and Sinnar within the Nashik Western Forest Department boundary during the Samruddhi Highway work. Now for the Surat-Chennai highway, the forest land at Nanashi and Bare will be acquired. There are rare species of trees at this place. Nashik West Forest Department has sent a proposal to the State Forest Department. From there the proposal will be sent to the CCF head office in Nagpur for final approval.

After getting the green signal from there, the forest department land will be transferred for highway work. According to the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, forest land can be transferred for development work. In turn, the forest department will be allotted a second area. Or the National Highways Authority will plant trees in double number than the trees cut down. Forest department land was transferred under this rule for ‘Samruddhi’ highway. Similarly, land can be transferred for Surat-Chennai highway

Biodiversity under threat

Although the highway will strengthen Nashik’s road connectivity with other cities in the country, the environment will have to pay the price. In particular, the land transfer portion is related to the Western Ghats, which are considered to be environmentally sensitive. If the highway is constructed from this place, there is a risk of endangering the wildlife along with the rare forest resources and biodiversity.

The obstacle to forest rights claims

Over 400 to 500 tribals have forest rights claims on forest land at Nanashi and Bare. While handing over the land for the highway, resolving the forest rights claims and relocating the land to the tribals and rehabilitating them will be a big challenge for the district administration and the forest department.

The Surat-Chennai highway passes through the villages of Nanashi and Bare within the limits of the Western Forest Department. For this, 196 hectares of land will get affected.The data has been sent to the Forest Ministry and the land will be transferred only after the permission of the Nagpur office. - Pankaj Garg, Forest Conservator, Nashik West Forest Departmen

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