The principal bench of the Nationwide Inexperienced Tribunal has directed the Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary to look right into a submission by the Forest Survey of India’s Joint Director that bushes had been illegally felled for the proposed Kanwar Marg between Meerut and Purkaji.
The order of the principal bench of NGT chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava, judicial member Sudhir Agarwal and professional member A.Senthil Vel was handed on February 28 whereas listening to the continuing suo motu matter on alleged unlawful tree felling for the Kanwar Marg. The order was made public Tuesday.
“Ms Meera Iyer has filed a separate response on 20.02.2025 stating that the Forest Survey of India has recognized a number of areas the place tree felling had exceeded 20 meters. She has additionally enclosed the pictures, particularly on web page 2021 onwards, displaying the place of the stretch in 2022 and satellite tv for pc picture of Might 2024 disclosing that bushes past 20 meters have been reduce,” the NGT said in its order, taking over file the FSI Joint Director’s report.
The NGT has earlier constituted a joint committee to probe, amongst different issues, whether or not bushes had been felled past a 20-metre stretch as permitted within the in-principle approval granted for the Kanwar Marg.
The joint committee submitted its report in January. Nevertheless, the FSI’s representatives, part of the identical committee, didn’t signal on the report.
The NGT bench of Justice Shrivastava has given liberty to FSI Joint Director Iyer to file a separate report, if her stand differed.
The UP authorities argued that the NGT had not directed the FSI director to nominate a consultant, and therefore the joint director’s report was of no consequence. Nevertheless, the tribunal mentioned in its order that the competence of the joint director was not the problem after submissions alleging unlawful tree felling past the scope permitted had been made to the NGT.
“We’re of the opinion that when it has been disclosed within the report of such a excessive officer that in sure stretches felling of bushes past 20 metres has been achieved and satellite tv for pc photographs have been enclosed, then the competent authority of the state should confirm it, verify its correctness and if unlawful felling of bushes past 20 metres has taken place then take applicable motion in opposition to those that are answerable for such unlawful felling of bushes,” mentioned the order.
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The NGT bench directed the UP Chief Secretary to make sure compliance of the instructions by way of a reliable officer.
In the meantime UP’s Extra Advocate Normal submitted to the courtroom that the state is within the strategy of realigning the remaining portion of the street that’s to be constructed.
“She (AAG) has knowledgeable {that a} stretch of about 62 km is already constructed for which 17,607 bushes have been reduce and after the realignment 49.4 km street is to be constructed, which can end result within the felling of 9,417 bushes, together with 1,299 vegetation. She submits that the realignment will happen not just for the remaining stretch however for all the stretch, and this may lead to a discount of tree feeling within the development of all the stretch,” the tribunal famous.
In the course of the course of the listening to, Mr. Akash Vashishtha, counsel for intervenors, Vikrant Tongad, Satendra Singh and Rajendra Tyagi, instructed the courtroom that the in-principle Stage-I Forest Approval itself to the venture was granted by the Setting Ministry with none public session.
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“We made an intensive effort to see the venture draft proposal on the Ministry’s web site however couldn’t discover out. We have now cheap perception that the draft proposal inviting recommendations, objections was by no means positioned on the web site and nor was it revealed wherever else. Had that been so, plenty of farmers would have objected to it as a result of this complete space is an agricultural area,” Vashishtha argued.
The NGT has suo motu taken up the problem of mass tree felling for the 111-km Kanwar Marg venture deliberate alongside the suitable department of the Higher Ganga canal from Murad Nagar in Uttar Pradesh to Purkaji, close to Uttarakhand. It is going to go by way of Ghaziabad, Meerut and Muzaffarnagar, and can want diversion of 222.98 hectare of protected forest land. Over 17,000 bushes have already been reduce for the venture.
