Old trees are being felled in Belagavi city for road-widening.
More than 200 trees have been cut so far on either side of the nearly 4 km long busy stretch between Goaves and Peernwadi Cross. A forest official told The Hindu here on Wednesday that 207 trees belonging to 38 species had been cut to enable road- widening on the Goaves-Peeranwadi Cross section of the Belagavi-Goa NH4A.
However, once the Public Works Department completed the work, the Forest Department would plant saplings on both sides of the road, he said.
As per norms, 200 saplings would be planted for every km of road depending on the availability of space. The PWD has taken up road widening work from Goaves to the Karnataka-Goa boundary, on a distance of nearly 80 km.
A forest official said tree cutting was inevitable if the old roads had to be widened to address congestion and accidents.
