On one hand, environmentalists are protesting against the felling of trees in Uttarakhand, on the other hand, trees are being felled on a large scale for development projects. The latest case is of the Dehradun-Rishikesh road, where preparations are being made to cut about 3 thousand trees for road widening at some distance from Jheelwala.

This road from Dehradun to Rishikesh has already been made two-lane in many parts, but work is still pending at some places. The road widening work is going to start beyond Jheelwala, so that traffic pressure can be reduced. To widen the road, the forest department has started the work of marking trees.

Stage 1 approval has been received for the project.
This project is being operated by the National Highway Department. The Ministry of Forest and Environment of the Central Government has given it Stage-1 approval in principle. However, the final approval of Stage-2 is still pending, but after getting the approval of the first stage, the process of marking the trees has been started.

These trees are being identified under the Dehradun Forest Division, which will later be removed through the Forest Development Corporation. According to Divisional Forest Officer Neeraj Sharma, the National Highway Department has taken forward its proposal and obtained permission from the Central Government. Now about 3 thousand trees are being cut. After which the cutting will be started as soon as other formalities are completed.

Environmentalists opposed the project
Environmentalists have been constantly concerned about the felling of trees. Although road widening will reduce the problem of traffic jams, it will damage the greenery of the area. Earlier also, trees have been felled on a large scale for various projects in Uttarakhand, which has affected the environment. At present, the process of the project is going on and as soon as the final approval of Stage-2 is received, the work of removing trees will be started. According to the Forest Department, this process is likely to be completed in the coming months.