The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has struck down 44,186 trees and transplanted 7,923 since the initiation work of the metro’s Phase 1 in 1998, PTI reported citing government data. During this period, the DMRC was given the permit to fell 57,775 trees, however it managed to preserve 12,580 trees by changes in layouts and adoption of other methods.
The Phase 1 construction of the network started in 1998 and concluded in 2005. During this period, the DMRC struck down 13,858 trees and transplanted 3,584 trees. The phase saw the making of a 65-kilometre-long rail network comprising 59 stations.
The Phase 2 construction saw 17,997 trees being razed to the ground. It was carried out between 2005 and 2011. This phase had a 125-kilometre-long rail network with 89 stations.
The 9-year-long phase 3 had DMRC cut 11,872 trees and transplant 506. It saw a development of a 160-kilometre-long rail network with 109 stations. In Phase 4, which started in 2019, 459 trees were felled and 781 were transplanted, as of January 2022. The DMRC has been working on three corridors in this phase which stretch across 65 kiolmetres and has 48 stations.
Data submitted in the Delhi High Court by the Forest Department in May 2022 revealed that around 77,000 trees, or an average of three trees every hour, were either chopped or transplanted for development projects in the preceding three years. Out of the total transplanted trees, only one-third managed to survive in the same period.
In 2019, 2020 and 2021, permission was granted to cut down or transplant 29,946 trees under Section 9 of the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act (DPTA) and 47,474 trees under Section 29. It is suspected that the actual figure of felled trees might be higher if illegal ones are also considered.
(With PTI inputs)