The Koshi Corridor 220 KV Transmission Line Project, a national pride project, has started cutting down 25,000 trees that fall in the area where the transmission lines are set to be installed.

The project office has started marking and cutting down trees in several community forests, national forests and even some private forests of Tehrathum and Taplejung districts to install infrastructure for the project.

The office has already completed the detailed study of the affected area, counting trees, designing, erecting towers and laying wires.
According to the Division Forest Office in Tehrathum, the project office will cut down the trees of rhododendron, pine, needlewood and other species that fall in the area where the transmission lines are set to be installed. The office has yet to evaluate the timber and firewood that will be produced after the felling of the trees. The trees will be handed over to the concerned community forest user group and the forest office.

In order to compensate for the loss of trees, the builder will have to plant 25 saplings for each tree it cuts in the open land designated by the forest office. According to Bharat Babu Shrestha, division forest officer of Tehrathum, work has already started in the field with the approval of the Council of Ministers.

"Trees are being cut down in areas where workers are digging to erect poles while marking and numbering of trees are underway in other areas. The Provincial Forest Directorate will later check the marking," said Shrestha.

According to Som Prasad Poudel, the project’s site inspector, the work of laying poles and pulling wires for the construction of the transmission line has reached the final stage. He claimed that the work will not affect the wildlife in the forest.

“The transmission line will transmit around 1,000 megawatts of electricity generated from the Mewa river and Tamor river of Taplejung, which will be connected to the substation at Inaruwa in Sunsari through Tute Substation in Basantapur, Tehrathum. The power will be connected to the national transmission line of 400 KV in Dhalkebar,” said Poudel. “More than 15,000 different species of trees in six community forests and some national forests of Tehrathum will be cut down under the project.”

Almost 30 species of rhododendron can be found in Tehrathum, which is also known as the capital of rhododendron, the country’s national flower. Preliminary preparations are underway to cut down more than 15,000 trees in the community forest of TMJ area (a collective name for Teenjure, Milke and Jaljale) for the construction of the transmission line.