India, March 29 -- Maharashtra will lose 82 hectares of forest land to the Nashik-Ahilyanagar stretch of the Surat-Chennai Expressway, following the green signal from the expert advisory committee of the Union ministry of environment forests and climate change (MoEFCC). The project will cost Gujarat 340 hectares of forest land. The clearances were received at a March 5 meeting of the committee.

The high-speed corridor will extend from the junction of NH-60 near Adgaon village in Nashik district, to Sarolabaddhi village in Ahilyanagar (erstwhile Ahmednagar) district. Its length is 152km in Maharashtra and 291km in Gujarat.

The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) executing the project will have to acquire a total 1,457 hectares in ...