Because of concretization and officials' callousness, majestic old trees in Delhi succumbed to severe winds. HC

  • June 3, 2022, 12:04 p.m.

The Delhi High Court on Thursday took note of the damage caused to trees in the city by the recent thunderstorm and said that the callousness of government officials led to the loss. The concreteisation of earth around the trees was one of the reasons that they fell during the storm, said the court.

"We can’t have this going on after what Delhi has seen in the last three days." Who is responsible for that? The officer It is because of their callousness that the city has lost hundreds of trees in the heart of the city. These trees are 40 years, 30 years, and 50 years old. What has been happening? The PWD came and actually encroached up to the neck of these trees. "There was no space to breathe, no air to go in, the roots had become dry," said Justice Najmi Waziri during the hearing of a contempt petition related to the preservation of trees.

The bench further said that the city witnessed "extensive devastation" to its vegetation caused by the thunderstorm. "Majestic old trees have succumbed to the strong winds primarily because the roots had weakened courtesy largely to the agencies owning the roads or permitting concretisation of the earth around them and, indeed, callously disregarding care and upkeep of the tree," said Justice Waziri.

The court last month ordered a stay on further felling of trees in the national capital after it was informed that more than 29,000 trees have been cut or transplanted in the city in the past three years. The court said that there was "no other way" to mitigate the environmental degradation while ordering the interim stay.

Commenting on a submission made by the Delhi government that green cover in Delhi has increased in the past few years, Justice Waziri on Thursday said it only means the number of trees planted and nothing else. "If you denude it in the heart of a city where people are living, it is of no consequence." Tell your department to get some new officers from wherever you want. Take them from some other department. "We can’t have the tree officers and DCFs being so handicapped," said the court, while stressing the need for more officers in the forest department.

Last month, the Deputy Conservator of Forests, Central, told the court that a total of 13,490 trees were permitted to be cut and 16,456 trees were directed to be transplanted in 2019, 2020, and 2021 across Delhi. The court had observed that one wonders how the department of forest considers that Delhi has the luxury of granting such permission.

Author : Rajdhani Delhi Representative

Rajdhani delhi representative

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