In a significant win for the movement to save nearly 900 century-old banyan trees from expansion plans for National Highway-163, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has set aside the Environmental Appraisal Committee (EAC)’s recommendations for the project, and ordered a fresh environmental impact assessment (EIA) study.
The NGT found that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in its road-widening proposal did not explore enough alternatives to minimise adverse environmental impact. The tribunal highlighted serious flaws in the previous EIA, including the viability of translocating the trees, identifying trees with breeding colonies of herons, premature recommendations before a biodiversity assessment by the Zoological Survey of India, and the omission of a public hearing.
The NGT’s order came in response to a petition by Hyderabad-based activists Tejah Balantrapu, Pranay Juvvadi and Natasha Ramaratnam, who are all part of the Save Banyans of Chevella campaign.
NHAI had proposed to expand a 45-kilometre stretch of NH-163 from two to four lanes, between Hyderabad and Manneguda. Several environmentalists and nature lovers from Hyderabad have been campaigning to save the Chevella banyan trees, demanding that authorities replan the road expansion in a way that doesn’t impact the region’s biodiversity.
In its orders passed on March 25, the NGT’s Chennai bench kept in abeyance the Environmental Appraisal Committee’s recommendations for the project till a fresh, comprehensive study is conducted on the project’s environmental impact.
The petitioners had alleged that the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC)’s Environmental Appraisal Committee gave clearance to the previous EIA study despite lapses. The NGT’s order prohibits the NHAI from proceeding with the project until a thorough re-assessment.
The petitioners also questioned the absence of a public hearing in the EIA process. The NGT had ordered the EIA in November 2023, in response to a previous petition by the same petitioners. In its latest order, NGT challenged the Environmental Appraisal Committee’s decision to exempt the project from public hearing.
While NHAI sought exemption from public hearing saying it did not need any further land acquisition, the NGT refused to do so, stating that land has been acquired for the proposed project from both sides of the existing road.
The NGT said the EIA process showed a “major shortfall” in compliance with its earlier order, as the study did not provide any meaningful discussion on alternative alignments of the route that could minimise environmental impact. The existing route was largely retained with minor modifications, it observed.
The NGT also questioned the EIA report’s assumption that NHAI’s plan to translocate 522 Banyan trees was risk-free, without citing any scientific study. The bench noted that that only six of these 522 trees had a small enough girth to be transplanted. It observed that “previous instances of translocation of large Banyan trees in India have had poor survival rates, yet the EIA does not present any study or success rate data to support this measure.”
The NGT also noted that the NHAI is neither clear on the criteria for translocation, nor does it have clear plans for a post-translocation monitoring mechanism.
The tribunal also flagged other deficiencies in the EIA document. The bench stated that the EAC was “too eager” to recommend acceptance of the EIA, and that it did so even before a biodiversity assessment report was submitted by the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) as mandated by the tribunal in an earlier order.
The NGT also noted that the EIA failed to identify specifically which trees provide space for heronry or breeding of other bird species. Without considering the ZSI report, identifying which trees can or cannot be felled was meaningless, the tribunal said.
The environmentalists leading the Save Banyans of Chevella campaign have identified and documented as many as 84 species of birds and animals, showing the rich biodiversity of the nearly 100-year-old green cover planted during the time of the last Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan.
A statement from the group said, “The Save Chevella Banyans campaign, and the 500-strong Nature Lovers of Hyderabad, celebrate this order that reaffirms our faith in the rule of law. The campaign urges NHAI to build the road by incorporating the Banyans into their plan.”