DEHRADUN, JULY 7: The battle to save Uttarakhand's forests has intensified, with concerned citizens launching a frontal attack on the proposed four-laning of the Rishikesh-Bhaniawala highway, alleging that the project will rip apart a vital elephant corridor and push the Doon Valley closer to an ecological disaster.
Addressing a packed press conference at the Press Club on Tuesday, environmentalists, lawyers and local residents questioned the very need for widening the highway, claiming there has never been any serious traffic congestion on the stretch.
They accused the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari of sacrificing forests and wildlife in the name of development.
Environmental activist Ira Chauhan warned that the project was far more than a road expansion.
She said the proposed four-laning would fragment one of Uttarakhand's most crucial elephant corridors, disrupting wildlife movement and triggering more human-elephant conflicts.
Development, she argued, cannot come at the cost of destroying the State's ecological lifeline.
Raising legal questions, advocate Himanshu Arora alleged that large-scale tree felling had continued despite issues relating to the elephant corridor and forest diversion remaining under the scrutiny of the Supreme Court.
Referring to ongoing proceedings and landmark judgments protecting elephant corridors under the Precautionary Principle, he said citizens were examining legal options to challenge the project.
Local Rishikesh resident Dinesh Semwal questioned the justification for the highway expansion, saying people living in the area had rarely experienced traffic jams.
He warned that slicing through forests connecting the Rajaji landscape would only increase encounters between elephants and humans, putting both lives at risk.
The sharpest attack came from social activist Anoop Nautiyal, who questioned why thousands of trees were being felled during the monsoon—the very season traditionally associated with plantation and ecological regeneration.
Calling it unprecedented in Uttarakhand, he said the State was steadily losing forests to one infrastructure project after another while claiming to pursue sustainable development.
The citizens demanded that the Uttarakhand Government and NHAI immediately halt the project and transparently examine alternatives before causing irreversible environmental damage.
They said the future of the State's forests, wildlife, biodiversity and climate resilience could not be compromised for short-term infrastructure gains.
Escalating their agitation, the citizens announced peaceful demonstrations outside the NHAI office on July 8.
They also declared that this year's Harela festival—a celebration of greenery and environmental protection—would be observed as a "Black Harela" in protest against large-scale tree felling and destruction of forests in Uttarakhand.
The resentment run high over the Rishikesh-Bhaniawala four-laning project. The citizens warn that once an elephant corridor is destroyed, it cannot be rebuilt.
