The central forest ministry has given clearance to cut 4,000 trees on 12 hectares of land to construct the portion of the Pinjore-Parwanoo bypass falling in Himachal Pradesh.

Around 17 hectares of land required for the bypass falls in the state.

The construction on the Haryana and Punjab portion of the 11-km long bypass is on. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) was awaiting approval to go ahead with the project in Himachal Pradesh.

“Recently, the approval to cut around 4,000 trees on the 12 hectares of land in Himachal Pradesh was given. Now, pre-construction work has started on the land. Of the 4,000 trees, around 3,000 have already been cut; the process of soil-testing is going on,” said an official of JP associates, the company working on the four-laning of the Zirakpur-Parwanoo highway.

The official said the construction work on the bridges and other structures on the bypass in Himachal Pradesh would start after the monsoon season.

The Pinjore-Parwanoo bypass is part of NHAI’s Rs 600 crore project to four-lane the Zirakpur-Parwanoo highway.

The bypass starts from Pinjore and will meet the Shimla highway at Parwanoo near Timber Trail. It will have around 15 bridges and five underpasses.

The 11-km bypass will start near the Mallah road, around 400 metres away from Yadavindra Gardens in Pinjore, and pass through the Horticulture Garden, Amar Palace, Bitna village, Tipra village (divided between Haryana and HP), Kamli village in HP, and the fruit market in Delli village,” the official said.

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