Key forest panel calls tunnel construction ‘environment friendly’

The construction of a tunnel is an “environment friendly activity, the forest advisory committee has held, adding that no compensatory afforestation is needed for such projects as they do not involve “damage to the above ground vegetation and wildlife”.

The Union environment ministry communicated this decision to state government in a letter, a copy of which is available on the Parivesh website, last month, paving the way for “construction of road/railways tunnels in the forest area” to be treated at par with underground mining projects.

On compensatory afforestation, the process of planting trees to replace forest land that has been diverted for non-forest uses like infrastructure projects, the FAC said: “…no compensatory afforestation is charged in respect of underground mining proposals as these proposals involves no damage to the above ground vegetation and wildlife. Therefore, in line with past clarifications issued by the Ministry and directions contained in the Hon’ble Supreme Court order, the Ministry may consider clarifying that construction of road/railways tunnels in the forest area may be treated at par with the underground mining project for the purpose of applicability of compensatory afforestation.”

The FAC statement added that a high-level meeting was held between the ministry of road transport and highways, and the environment ministry on August 6, wherein clarifications were sought from the MoEFCC on provisions of the Van (Sarnakshan Evam Samvardhan) Rules, 2023, and guidelines issued by the ministry.

While the decision may encourage tunnels where possible as against felling of trees or slope cutting, a blanket statement on tunneling itself can cause severe damage, experts said. They pointed that a lot will depend on the topography, nature of rocks, underground aquifers and final workmanship to determine whether a tunnel is in fact safe and less detrimental to the environment.

“No knowledgeable person would accept a blanket statement like this. Whether a tunnel will be secure, cause environmental damage or not depends on a number of factors. For example, what is on top of the tunnel, what is the kind of rock through which it is being built… the forest does not grow on bare rock. We need to understand what is the soil on top and whether that soil layer has been leaching into an aquifer on top. These things have to be studied carefully and if there is not adequate study, the impacts can be disastrous like we saw in Silkayara. It also depends on width, design of tunnel, how good is the workmanship of the tunnel,” said Ravi Chopra, former chairman of an expert panel set up by the Supreme Court to oversee the widening of roads under the Char Dham Pariyojana.

Chopra said the FAC had taken a simplistic view of the issue “where it put down the distance between two points and therefore fewer trees likely to be cut, less probability of landslide, assuming muck is dumped safely”.

His view was echoed by Navin Juyal, a former scientist at the Physical Research Laboratory, who said: “Tunnels are definitely a better alternative in landslide prone areas. But we have also seen what has happened in Silkyara. Its very important to understand its impact on underground aquifers. It’s also important to scrutinise load bearing capacity, engineering, geological aspects of rock mechanics.”