Delhi Govt Forms 3-member Committee To Probe Tree Felling In Ridge Area

Gopal Rai on Saturday said the government has formed a fact-finding committee. (File Image/PTI)

Delhi Environment and Forest minister Gopal Rai on Saturday said the government has formed a fact-finding committee of three ministers over the felling of 1,100 trees in the Ridge area allegedly without permission.

The decision was taken in a meeting of the ministers held at Secretariat, in view of non- submission of the status report on cutting of the trees at Satbari (Chhatarpur) lying on the Ridge, Rai said in a statement.

The committee comprising the ministers Atishi, Saurabh Bharadwaj and Imran Hussain will submit its report to the forest minister, the statement said.

The report will then be submitted to the Supreme Court which is hearing the matter, before the next date of hearing, Rai said.

He charged that the 1,100 trees were cut by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) illegally and without due permission.

”The e-mails of DDA engineers reveal that the trees were cut on the verbal instructions of the Delhi Lieutenant Governor,” Rai claimed.

He said in a meeting with the forest department on June 26, officials told him that the DDA was issued notices in March on the matter but it did respond.

Rai said he directed the forest department to submit a detailed report on the matter but it was not done. After a written communication to submit the report on June 28, the officers again did not comply, the minister said.

”In such a circumstance, the meeting of ministers decided to form a three-member committee to give detailed report about the tree felling,” he said.

Rai added that the Kejriwal government is committed to protect and increase the green cover of Delhi.

Ahead of 2020 Assembly polls, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had issued 10 guarantees, including planting two crore saplings in five years, he recalled.

The forest minister said that the cooperation of various agencies, Delhi government has already managed to plant two crore saplings in four years itself. For the next one year, the government has decided to plant another 64 lakh saplings.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Delhi government and the civic agencies to convene a meeting and discuss comprehensive measures to enhance the city’s green cover while observing that people are feeling the heat as tree cover is lost.

Observing that brazen acts of tree felling in the national capital cannot be brushed aside lightly, the top court had on Monday sought a ”clear” statement from the DDA vice-chairman about whether trees in the Ridge area were cut on the orders of the lieutenant governor without its permission.