The Union environment ministry's expert advisory committee has cleared the diversion of 82 hectares of forest land in Maharashtra for the Nashik-Ahilyanagar segment of the upcoming Surat-Chennai Expressway, the Hindustan Times reported .
Gujarat stands to lose a significantly larger 340 hectares of forest cover for the same project. The approvals came through at a committee meeting held on 5 March.
The expressway segment in Maharashtra will run 152 km, connecting the NH-60 junction near Adgaon village in Nashik district to Sarolabaddhi village in Ahilyanagar district, formerly known as Ahmednagar. The Gujarat portion stretches 291 km.
The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), the executing agency, will need to acquire 1,457 hectares in Maharashtra and 2,262 hectares in Gujarat for the corridor.
The Maharashtra stretch is estimated to cost Rs 9,494 crore, while the Gujarat section carries a price tag of Rs 16,198 crore.
Given that the Gujarat alignment cuts through the Western Ghats, the committee has sought additional studies before final clearance.
These include a fauna impact assessment from the Zoological Survey of India, a socio-economic and biodiversity impact evaluation, a traffic study, and a report on the effect of seismic activity on tunnel stability from a premier institute like IIT Bombay.
Currently, travellers between Surat and Nashik rely on the route through Saputara, while heavy vehicles take the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway. Upcoming projects like the Mumbai-Vadodara Expressway, nearing inauguration, and the Palghar-Nashik Expressway linked to Vadhavan port are expected to further transform regional connectivity.
"The time has come to stop the diversion of forest land. All projects must bypass forest land or a viaduct must be constructed. We can't keep losing our forests like this," Environmentalist D Stalin of NGO Vanshakhti was quoted by Hindustan Times as saying.