Union Govt was Quick to Note Deforestation in Hyderabad. Here are Similar Projects It Is Ignoring

Bengaluru: “We will take action on those responsible,” said Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav in the Rajya Sabha on April 3, after a Telangana BJP MP brought up the deforestation in Kancha Gachibowli during Question Hour. 

From March 30, the state government had been clearing trees from the forest area in Kancha Gachibowli, in the heart of Hyderabad’s rapidly growing urban sprawl, using JCBs. It also detained more than 50 students from the adjacent University of Hyderabad who protested against the deforestation.

“I don’t understand what enmity the Telangana government has with trees, chopping them down at night using bulldozers and bright lights. Nearly 400 trees have been felled, endangering wildlife in the area,” Yadav said in Rajya Sabha. The Union minister was quick to react to the tree felling in Kancha Gachibowli. On the same day, April 3, the Supreme Court ordered the logging to be stopped. 

However, while the deforestation of Kancha Gachibowli forest picked up headlines, here are some other major ‘developmental’ projects that are causing deforestation across the country, where even the BJP-led Union government has shown an “enmity” to trees – many of them are in states ruled by BJP governments and Union territories which are governed directly by the Union government. 

In many of these cases, the Supreme Court has not raised an “alarm” the way it did with Kancha Gachibowli. Here are some instances:

1. Development projects in Great Nicobar IslandAccording to some estimates, up to a million trees are going to be cut down in the rainforests of the Great Nicobar Island – the southernmost island in the Andaman and Nicobar island complex – for a slew developmental projects running to more than Rs 70,000 crores, including an international transshipment terminal, a greenfield airport and a township and power plant.

   Ecologists and social scientists have repeatedly warned that the projects will drastically affect the island’s endemicbiodiversity and its indigenous communities, including the Shompen and Nicobarese, who are listed as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups. Despite these warnings, the Union government is not only going ahead with the projects but has even claimed that the projects will not cause any environmental impacts, or affect indigenous peoples in any way. India’s apex green court, the National Green Tribunal, too has brought no relief, it said that it would not “interfere” with the environment and forest clearances granted for the project.

2. Large-scale deforestation in Chhattisgarh’s Hasdeo ArandSince 2012, mining has ravaged north Chhattisgarh’s Hasdeo Arand forests, one of India’s last remaining contiguous forest lands that extends over 1,500 square kilometres. The Adani Group has been extracting coal from these forest lands for over a decade for Rajasthan’s state electricity company.As per some estimates, nearly 1 lakh trees have been felled in the area since then; the last bout occurred in December 2023 and resulted in 15,000 trees being cut down under stiff police protection. Activists, according to a report by Article 14, however, say the total number is an underestimate. This ongoing deforestation in Hasdeo Arand has met with stiff protests from the indigenous communities in the region. The people here not only worship these forests but also rely on them heavily for sustenance and livelihood.

   The Wire reported earlier that the large-scale deforestation has led to a spike in negative human-elephant interactions. Several stories of rights violations also abound here. For instance, apart from displacement of local communities from the villages they called home, an investigation by a state government body alleged that many documents – including gram sabha consents – were forged to obtain clearances for mining.

   Again, the Union government has turned a blind eye to these violations.

3. Felling 17,000 trees in UP for Kanwar Yatra routeIn Uttar Pradesh, the state government has already cut down 17,607 trees in the Ghaziabad, Meerut and Muzaffarnagar districts to make way for a new 111 km-long Kanwar Yatra route, as per data provided by the Public Works Department of the state government.The government-run Forest Survey of India noted in a submission to the National Green Tribunal that this was done without “final approvals”, The Hindu reported. While tree felling has been paused for now, it will likely soon resume because currently, trees have already been felled along nearly 60 km of the proposed 111 km-long route.
4. Felling forests in UP’s Mirzapur for a thermal power plantAnother one under the BJP-governed Uttar Pradesh, a coal-based thermal power plant is being established by Mirzapur Thermal Energy (UP) Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of – again – Adani, even as the permission from the Union environment ministry to divert around 8 hectares in the dry deciduous forests of Mirzapur – home to threatened species including the sloth bear and striped hyena – is pending.Despite the lack of a mandatory environmental clearance, pre-construction activities have still begun – to establish a coal-based thermal power plant by an Adani subsidiary company, Mirzapur Thermal Energy (UP) Private Ltd, in around 365 hectares of forest land.
5. Dry forests of Aravallis cleared for mining, constructionClose to the national capital, and right under the nose of Union government offices, lies another story of deforestation. The Aravallis mountain range – spread across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and parts of which also extend into the National Capital Region (NCR) – has witnessed clearing of forests and scrub jungles for mining and construction for decades now.A study by the Central University of Rajasthan found that over the last 44 years, forests in the Aravallis have reduced by 7.6%. According to another estimate, nearly 858 million metric tonnes of stone have been illegally mined in Nuh district of Haryana alone, which translates to a potential loss of around Rs. 2,000 crore. In 2018, the National Human Rights Commission even issued notices to the Union government and the state governments of Rajasthan and Haryana for “massive deforestation” in the area that was causing dust storms in the NCR.

   Besides, there have been other impacts in the region as well: both mining and deforestation have caused the groundwater tables, for instance, to drop. The result has been drinking water shortages in the hill tracts and around them. Urbanisation, further, has led to encroachment into the Aravallis. And now the threat of a huge zoo and safari project – across a staggering 10,000 acres in Haryana’s Gurugram and Nuh districts – looms large.

   Ironically, the Aravalli Forest Safari Project has been planned as a compensation for the tree felling that projects in the Great Nicobar Island will cause. But experts have raised numerous concerns, chief among them being that the ‘compensation’ is unrealistic and incomparable, and that the Aravallis in Haryana would be negatively affected due to the construction (of guest houses, restaurants and much more) and increased footfalls that the park will bring.

   As recently as February, retired forest officials wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to scrap this project.

6. Forest linked to India’s only ape sanctuary to give way for oil drillingThe Union government in January this year approved oil drilling in the eco-sensitive zone of India’s only ape sanctuary, the Hollongapar Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary, in BJP-governed Assam.While the area for the oil drilling project is comparatively less – around 11 acres – and does not come close to the 400 acres of Kancha Gachibowli in terms of extent, the oil exploration activities will affect populations of India’s only ape species – the Hoolock gibbon – that dwell in the sanctuary.

   Experts also worry that the project will further aggravate negative human-elephant interactions in the surrounding villages, where this is already a concern.

7. At least 11,000 trees to be cut for Pune riverfront development projectIn 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the Rs 4,700-crore riverfront development project in Pune, Maharashtra. The project aims to “beautify” the banks – 44 km in total – of the Mula and Mutha rivers that flow through the city.According to the Indian Express, at least 11,000 trees will be cut and 11,150 trees will be transplanted for this project. Residents of Pune have been consistently protesting against the project which will remove a lot of existing riverine vegetation along the banks but the Union government has turned a blind eye to these protests.