5 yrs gone, work on kanwar corridor is set to begin now

GHAZIABAD: The 111km kanwar route from Ghaziabad to Muzaffarnagar, one of the chief minister’s pet projects that were envisaged as a corridor for the annual yatra, is set to take off soon.
The public works department, which is executing the project, said it has now identified over 200 hectares of land in Lalitpur district that is needed for compulsory afforestation.
Proposed by the state government in 2018, the route was planned along the Upper Ganga canal. Not just the yatra, the corridor will also give farmers from western UP districts another route to access mandis and mills.
In 2020, the Rs 628-crore project got a go-ahead from the state government’s expenditure and finance committee but remained stuck due to the environment and forest ministry’s clearance.
Nearly 1.1 lakh trees and plants across Ghaziabad, Meerut and Muzaffarnagar districts will have to be felled and uprooted to make way for the corridor.
“The project was delayed as alternative land for reforestation was not immediately available. Now, we have identified 222 hectares of land in Lalitpur district for compulsory afforestation,” PWD officer Ram Raja said.
As per environmental laws, if trees are felled for a project then the executing agency is bound by law to provide land for compulsory afforestation.
“We have got the clearance from the ministry of environment, forest and climate change. Soon, we will issue tenders and the work on the route will begin shortly after that. We hope that by next year the corridor will be ready,” Raja added.
As per a PWD survey, of the 1.1 lakh trees and shrubs that need to be felled for the project, approximately 25,000 are in Ghaziabad, 66,685 in Meerut and 16,873 in Muzaffarnagar.
The two-lane corridor will connect Purkazi in Muzaffarnagar to Muradnagar in Ghaziabad and pass through Sardhana and Jani in Meerut. The stretch will have 10 major bridges, 27 minor bridges and one rail overbridge.