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Eight years after the Union environment ministry approved the diversion of 51.12 hectares of forest land for the Badshahpur Sohna stretch of the Delhi Mumbai Expressway, official data on compensatory afforestation remains unclear. While 42,468 saplings were planted in the Nuh division in 2025-26, there is no consolidated record of plantations since 2018, nor details of precise locations, monitoring, or survival rates. Environmental activists have highlighted that some plantations occurred far from the project site, raising questions about regulatory compliance, ecological effectiveness, and transparency in large infrastructure projects.
The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway's Badshahpur-Sohna section, approved for forest land diversion in 2018, continues to face scrutiny over missing and incomplete information on compensatory afforestation. The Union environment ministry had allowed the diversion of 51.12 hectares of forest land, with conditions that required replacement of lost trees and land through proper plantation programs under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. These conditions are meant to ensure that forest loss from infrastructure projects is compensated on a 'land-for-land' and 'tree-for-tree' basis. Advertisement
According to a recent Right to Information reply, compensatory afforestation for this project was proposed in both the Nuh and Morni-Pinjore divisions. The Deputy Forest Officer (Territorial), Gurgaon, confirmed that 42,468 saplings were planted in Nuh division during the 2025-26 planting cycle. However, there is no detailed record showing how many trees have been planted since the initial clearance in 2018. The reply also lacks specifics on plantation locations, demarcation of sites, monitoring mechanisms, and the survival status of planted saplings. Tree transplantation was explicitly not permitted by the ministry and was therefore not conducted.
Environmental activist Vaishali Rana, who obtained the information through an RTI, pointed out that no consolidated data exists on the total number of trees planted across both Nuh and Morni-Pinjore divisions. She also alleged that some compensatory plantations were carried out 350 km away in a different district, which would violate the conditions of the afforestation rules. Additionally, she highlighted that the clearance required NHAI, the user agency, to install four-foot-high cement pillars to demarcate plantation sites, but on-ground verification of this compliance appears lacking.
Experts note that monitoring of compensatory afforestation for major infrastructure projects should include public disclosure, geo-tagging of sites, and periodic survival audits to ensure plantations deliver real ecological benefits. Haryana, where this stretch lies, has one of the lowest green covers in India at 3.6 per cent. Forest Survey of India data shows Gurgaon lost 2.47 sq km of forest cover between 2019 and 2020, while the state's tree cover outside forest areas fell by 140 sq km during the same period. Plantation drives linked to forest diversions in Gurgaon have often been delayed due to lack of available land, according to previous reports.
The absence of full, verified afforestation records in this case reflects broader challenges in environmental governance for infrastructure projects. Without clear data, it remains difficult to determine whether ecological compensation is being effectively implemented or if legal conditions are being followed.
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