8 hrs ago
Bhopal Road Plan Could Put Nearly 290,000 Trees At Risk
Bhopal has a draft plan for many new or wider roads.
Altogether, the planned roads would stretch about 791 kilometres.
Experts looked at another road project where about 6,000 trees were cut along 16.44 kilometres.
If Bhopal’s roads affected trees at the same rate, the number could be around 289,000.
But that is only a comparison, not a prediction of how many trees will actually be cut.
The final number depends on where the roads go and what trees are already there.
It also depends on how much land is needed and how much roads need to be widened.
Experts say those details are not yet settled.
Bhopal’s Draft Master Plan 2047 proposes a road network of about 791.42 kilometres.
The plan includes corridors of various widths, with 18-metre and 24-metre roads the most frequently marked.
A recent road project involving 6,000 trees cut over 16.44 kilometres was used as a benchmark of roughly 365 trees per kilometre.
Applying that rate to the proposed network gives an indicative figure of about 289,000 trees, not an estimate of actual removals.
Experts say actual impacts depend on final alignments, existing vegetation, land acquisition and widening needs.
- Who
- Bhopal’s planning authorities; environmental and urban experts commenting on the draft plan.
- What
- A proposed 791.42-kilometre road network could put many trees at risk; a benchmark-based calculation suggests about 289,000, but does not estimate actual removals.
- Where
- Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.
- When
- The proposal is part of Bhopal’s Draft Master Plan 2047.
- Why
- The potential tree impact is being discussed because the draft proposes a large road network, while actual effects depend on final alignments and site conditions.
Key facts
- Proposed road network
- About 791.42 km
- Dominant road widths
- 18 m and 24 m, with 111 and 103 annotations respectively
- Benchmark project
- About 6,000 trees reportedly cut for a 16.44-km, 10-lane road
- Benchmark rate
- Roughly 365 trees per kilometre
- Indicative tree figure
- About 2.89 lakh, or 289,000; not an estimate of actual removals
- Indicative compensation
- About Rs 42 crore at Rs 1,450 per tree, according to environmental activist Nitin Saxena
- Factors affecting actual impact
- Final road alignments, existing vegetation, land acquisition and required widening
Sources
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