As many as 1,720 full-grown and old trees of different species will be felled for the widening of a 40 kilometre stretch of the National Highway 59 in Odisha’s Ganjam district. The Rs 126-crore project is aimed at widening the road to 12 metre from 7 m between Ratanpur near Berhampur city and Mundamarai near Aska. The felling of several old trees has already been started in Ratanpur by the Odisha State Forest Development Corporation. The green activists have expressed grave concern over it. As many as 16,45,410 trees have been chopped across Odisha over the last decade for various projects, said the state forest and environment minister Bikram Keshari Arukha, in a written reply to an MLA at the state Assembly on February 23.
— source downtoearth.org.in | 05 Mar 2021