Project: Six laning of Hapur Bypass to Moradabad section including Hapur Bypass from existing km 50.000 to km 149.250 of NH-24 in Hapur, Amroha and Moradabad Districts of State under NHDP Phase V

JUSTIFICATION FOR LOCATING THE PROJECT IN FOREST LAND Project road is one of the important link between and Moradabad. The road passes through some of the major settlements like Hapur, Garh and Gajraula before connecting Moradabad from Delhi. The civil work for Delhi- Express-way is already under progress. The proposed development will connect Moradabad to Delhi via Delhi Meerut Expressway.

Six laning of Hapur Bypass to Moradabad section including Hapur Bypass from existing km 50.000 to km 149.250 of NH-24 in Hapur, Amroha and Moradabad Districts of Uttar Pradesh State is proposed under NHDP Phase V.

The existing highway section is a 4 lane road. Some of the stretches in urban settlements are having six lane configurations. The road has many settlements and the traffic flow is impacted by these conflicts. It is proposed to widen and improve the existing road section to standard 6-lane configuration with paved and earthen shoulders.

The major difficulties with following an entirely new alignment or major realignments are the magnitude of land acquisition and social disruption likely. Therefore, as an alternative, the project has adopted the policy of widening within existing RoW upto maximum possible extent in order to minimise new land requirements and negative environmental and social impacts.

The linear plantation within the RoW of this highway section has been notified as Protected Forest vide Gazette Notification 3208/XIV dated 23rd August, 1956. Since the project section is widening of existing road, the existing alignment has been followed for the project except the bypass section of Hapur.

National Highway 24 forms the Southern Boundary of Wildlife Sanctuary. Hastinapur wildlife sanctuary has extent from Km 87.000 to Km 105.700 along the National Highway-24. Therefore, as per recommendation of sub-committee on Guidelines for roads in Protected Areas on dated 22nd December, 2014, no development is proposed in this part of Highway. Also more than 1 km of stretch of NH-24 shall remain intact due to provide a buffer to wildlife Sanctuary. Therefore, effective chainages for Forest Diversion proposal of NH-24 are as

follows.

Page 1 of 2 HAPUR FOREST DIVISION Total Chainage- Km 50.000 to Km 93.048 Bypass Chainage- Km 50.000 to Km 79.000 Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary- Km 87.000 to Km 93.048 Proposed Eco-sensitive Zone- Km 86.000 to Km 87.000 EFFECTIVE CHAINAGE FOR FOREST DIVERSION PROPOSAL IN HAPUR DIVISON- Km 79.000 to Km 85.850 (Limited 150m before Start of Eco-sensitive Zone)

AMROHA FOREST DIVISION Total Chainage- Km 93.048 to Km 143.342 Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary- Km 93.048 to Km 105.700 Proposed Eco-sensitive Zone- Km 105.700 to Km 106.700 EFFECTIVE CHAINAGE FOR FOREST DIVERSION PROPOSAL IN AMROHA DIVISON- Km 107.000 (Limited to nearest milestone after Eco-sensitive Zone for easy identification) to Km 143.342 MORADABAD FOREST DIVISION EFFECTIVE CHAINAGE FOR FOREST DIVERSION PROPOSAL IN MORADABAD DIVISON- Km 143.342 to Km 149.250

The road side plantation within existing Right of Way (RoW) along the project road has been notified as Protected Forest (PF) and that is the only option left for widening of the road. Due to avoidance of any social issue mostly concentric widening is being followed.

Sushil Verma Project Director Place: Moradabad National Highway Authority of Date: 31/08/2017 Moradabad

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