Guwahati: Guwahati’s choking air, ranked second-worst globally, isn’t enough to deter the Assam Forest Department from authorizing the felling of hundreds of mature trees for a road widening project.
The Assam Forest department recently allowed the felling of over 100 mature trees on the city’s outskirts for a road project on the Dharapur-Palashbari road connecting the Guwahati International Airport.
This decision comes on the heels of a damning report by IQAir, a Swiss air quality monitoring body. Their “World Air Quality Report 2023” ranked Guwahati as the world’s second most polluted city. The report linked this alarming rise in pollution, a doubling of PM2.5 concentration from 2022 to 2023, to deforestation.
The Assam government’s ambitious tree plantation programme, “Amrit Brikshya Andolan,” launched last year, appears to be overshadowed by the immediate destruction of these old-growth trees. Environmentalists point out that these trees slated for felling are over 100 years old.
Nature lovers’ organization Bihanga Bandhu claims the project will cut down over 293 trees.
As part of the road widening project on the Palashbari-Dharapur road, over 100 trees, some estimated to be century-old, are already being removed.
“Why couldn’t development consider preserving these trees? Were environmental concerns even considered in the project design?” questioned an environmental activist requesting anonymity.
Pramod Kalita, another environmental activist, believes the six-lane project could have incorporated the trees as dividers, demonstrating genuine government will to save them.
Earlier in 2022, a large number of trees were felled along the Jalukbari-Basistha Highway to convert the four-lane highway into a six-lane one.
Threat to Wildlife Habitat
Conservationists are also deeply concerned about the potential loss of habitat for bird species, particularly the endangered Greater Adjutant Stork. The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) had previously intervened in October 2023, urging the Assam State Biodiversity Board (ASBB) to protect these vital bird habitats along the road.
Bihanga Bandhu had also appealed to the NBA to stop the National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL) from cutting down a tree near Nayan Filling Kishan Sewa Kendra on the Dharapur-Palashbari Road, a known nesting site for Lesser Adjutant Storks. The NGO warned that felling the tree would displace the birds.
When contacted, Kamrup (East) DFO Rohini Ballav Saikia refused to comment on the fate of this specific tree.