The development of national highway infrastructure in India is a story of ambition clashing with ecological reality. With rapid urbanization and the pressing need to improve connectivity, powerful government agencies like the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) find themselves entangled in a complicated dance—trying to expand roads without bulldozing the environment. The Urban Extension Road-II (UER-II) project in Delhi starkly highlights this dilemma, revealing the persistent struggle between infrastructure growth and environmental accountability.
The UER-II project serves as a frontline example of the challenges blocking highway expansion in India, where compensatory plantation—a policy designed to replace trees felled during road construction—remains incomplete amidst bureaucratic delays and land shortages. This principle, underpinned by mandates requiring developers to plant multiple saplings for every tree cut (often tenfold), aims to preserve ecological balance as the city’s concrete sprawl deepens. Yet, evidence from UER-II and wider national highway initiatives shows the system falters in execution, with delayed plantation efforts, data mismatches, and regulatory pushbacks raising serious questions about India’s environmental ethos in the face of infrastructure fever.
Delving into the heart of these challenges, one of the most glaring issues is the chronic delay and incompleteness of compensatory plantation work. For UER-II, despite NHAI’s 2021 funds deposited with DDA to initiate plantation activities, the green cover replacement remains severely lacking. Right to Information disclosures reveal a mismatch between official claims and actual tree planting on the ground, spotlighting the persistent opacity surrounding environmental compliance. This pattern is not isolated; in Nagpur, where over 14,000 trees were felled across projects on National Highway 6 alone, only three out of 51 projects adhered to compensatory afforestation mandates spanning two decades. These numbers point to systemic underperformance, suggesting that enforcing environmental rules is often more aspirational than operational.
Land acquisition hurdles further complicate afforestation efforts, forming a second major barrier to balancing highway progress with green goals. The DDA’s struggle to allocate 6.4 hectares of land for planting nearly 4,000 trees along the UER-II corridor exemplifies the urban land crunch. Delhi’s rapidly shrinking open spaces, competing priorities, and high urban land value have created a bottleneck, delaying not only plantation but the environmental clearances crucial for finalizing highway construction timelines. This land scarcity isn’t unique to Delhi—it echoes nationwide where sprawling cities compete fiercely for every square foot. Without available land, compensatory plantation policies risk becoming hollow promises, further straining public trust and regulatory tolerance.
This interplay of delayed plantation and land issues triggers a cascade of project hold-ups and regulatory clampdowns. The elevated corridor linking Akshardham to the Eastern Peripheral Expressway, another key infrastructure venture, faces delays for the same plantation land dilemmas, forcing NHAI to escalate appeals to authorities for faster action. Further, regulatory bodies like the Delhi Pollution Control Committee have issued closure notices against UER-II work, demanding stricter adherence to pollution and environmental standards before construction resumes. Civic activists and concerned citizens have rallied for fines and penalties against NHAI’s noncompliance, signaling rising public impatience and a growing environmental consciousness demanding accountability beyond mere paperwork.
Despite these setbacks, some optimistic efforts are underway. NHAI’s adoption of the Miyawaki plantation methodology—a rapid afforestation technique capable of restoring dense green patches on limited land—represents a novel approach to overcoming spatial constraints. Such innovative techniques could offer a lifeline for urban afforestation if aligned with realistic operational support, land access, and ongoing maintenance plans. Meanwhile, the Delhi government’s formation of expert panels to explore alternative land allocation strategies underlines a renewed willingness to collaboratively tackle these thorny issues. These exploratory steps reflect a shift toward recognizing urban afforestation’s complexity rather than defaulting to one-size-fits-all plantation quotas.
Adding another layer of complexity, compensatory plantation policies themselves are under active review. Pressured by the acute shortage of plantation land, the DDA has petitioned the central government to relax the rigid “10 saplings for one felled tree” norm to fewer saplings. This controversial proposal highlights the friction between environmental ideals and practical constraints faced by urban planners and developers. While environmental ministers stand firm on maintaining stringent plantation requirements, discussions reveal an ongoing tension—a balancing act between preserving ecological integrity and acknowledging the spatial, economic, and time pressures of mega urban projects like UER-II. This debate underscores the need for flexible, context-sensitive frameworks that can realistically be implemented without sidelining sustainability.
National infrastructure projects beyond UER-II, such as logistics parks and new link roads aimed at easing Delhi’s monstrous traffic congestion, similarly carry intertwined promises and challenges. While these developments are critical for economic growth and urban livability, their ultimate success hinges on transparent and effective environmental compliance. Failure to integrate compensatory afforestation meaningfully risks not only ecological degradation but also delayed project execution and eroded public confidence in development agencies.
Together, these experiences illustrate broader lessons about the fragile relationship between infrastructure development and ecology in India’s urbanizing landscapes. Delays in compensatory plantation due to limited land, inconsistencies in reporting, and regulatory interventions have become familiar obstacles, slowing projects and stirring public scrutiny. However, emerging solutions like rapid afforestation techniques and policy reexamination offer constructive paths forward. Ultimately, sustainable infrastructure growth demands genuine cooperation between development authorities, environmental regulators, and community stakeholders—a collaborative partnership that values green cover as much as grey roads. The UER-II saga is a microcosm revealing the need for infrastructure frameworks that embed ecological health as a foundational pillar alongside the momentum of urban expansion.
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