Chandigarh turns down plea to chop off 1,300 trees to make rly station ‘world-class’

However, before the railway authorities could give its approval for the environmental management plan, RLDA went ahead and moved a plea before the Chandigarh forest department, seeking permission to chop the 1,300 trees.

The UT forest department, in turn, has now returned the rail land authority’s plea and asked them to reapply for permission only after the Indian Railway authorities had approved the environmental management plan.

In December, 2022, RLDA had been awarded the tender for the re-development of Chandigarh station to make it ‘World-Class’ at a total cost of Rs 462 crore. The deadline for the project is April 2024. The land on which the redevelopment work is to take place belongs to the Ambala Railway Division.

As per details, the rail land authority had previously sought and received time-bound permission for felling the trees — most of which is that of eucalyptus — from the forest department in the years 2019, 2020 and 2021. However, despite having received the nod then, RLDA never proceeded to chop any of the trees in question in any of the three years.

Officials said that more than 1,000 trees are located on the Panchkula side exit of the railway station, with the rest being located on the Chandigarh side.

“The permission had been granted in 2019, 2020 and 2021 consecutively. However, the railway land authority did not chop the trees as development work had not started in the project. The RLDA, also so far, has planted at least 6,100 saplings, which is five times the proposed number of trees that are to be chopped, as per norms,” an official in the knowhow of things said.

The trees, as per plans, are to be cleared for making space for outlets of the station, extension of the parking space, and construction of public utility centres. The idea, as per officials, is to make Chandigarh station ‘World Class’ which offers passenger amenities comparable to those found at international airports.

Deputy general manager, RLDA, Saurabh Singh, confirmed, “We had submitted an application for the permission to fell trees, along with a provisional environment management plan. The same was turned down. The UT forest department, instead, asked us to submit an approved environment management plan. The approval is awaited from Indian Railways top brass and likely to come shortly. In the provisional plan that we submitted, we undertake the responsibility of planting five times the number of trees that we chop. We also take responsibility of proper waste segregation etc.”