A contempt petition will be filed under Article 215 at the High Court on Wednesday, 27 June, against NBCC and others with regard to the ongoing tree-felling despite the High Court interim ban.
The Delhi High Court had on Sunday, 24 June, asked the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) to put off the chopping of trees in south Delhi as part of its proposed plan for the redevelopment of seven colonies till 2 July, which is when the National Green Tribunal (NGT) is expected to hear the matter.
The next hearing of the case in the Delhi High Court, however, will take place on 4 July, ANI reported.
Taking note of the pointers put forth by the High Court, the NBCC, which is responsible for the redevelopment project involving half a dozen south Delhi colonies, agreed not to cut any tree till 4 July.
Addressing the NBCC, a vacation bench of Justices Vinod Goel and Rekha Palli asked: "Can Delhi afford the cutting of trees for the development of roads and buildings? We could understand if it was a road-widening work which is inevitable.”
According to PTI, the court’s stay order came after the NBCC said the NGT had the authority to hear pleas challenging any environment clearances given to projects that the Centre had approved.
The areas where the trees are slated to be chopped off for redevelopment purposes are Sarojini Nagar, Naoroji Nagar, Netaji Nagar, Thyagaraja Nagar, Mohammadpur and Kasturba Nagar.
Around 1,500 people from the capital had participated in a ‘Chipko’ movement of sorts at Sarojini Nagar on the afternoon of 24 June, Sunday, in an attempt to prevent the proposed chopping down of trees in order to make space for redevelopment, Hindustan Times reported.
The Union Urban and Housing Affairs ministry had stated last week that roughly 14,031 trees were to be chopped down as a part of this project, the report added.
Speaking to the newspaper, environmental activist Verhaen Khanna said:
We would not allow the trees to be felled. Just like the Chipko movement, we would hug the trees if anyone comes to cut them.
The new-age ‘Chipko movement’ that was being carried out by Delhi residents received the support of the AAP government. The party’s spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj and the State Environment and Forest Minister Imran Hussain even took part in the movement.
Like in the historic movement, protestors hugged the trees that were going to be chopped, tied green ribbons around them and shouted slogans. Carrying placards and distributing free saplings, they urged the government and its people to save trees.
The petition to stop the cutting down of the slated trees, for redevelopment purposes, was filed by advocate Anil Sood, the report adds. The PIL has sought that the terms of reference be set aside and the EC granted to the project by the Environment Ministry.
It also argued that the planting of saplings in another location as “compensatory afforestation” would not change the environmental degradation that would come with the large-scale felling of trees, the PTI report added.
The NBCC, represented by senior advocate JP Seng, however, told the court that it had deposited Rs 8 crore with the tree authority in order to gain permission to cut the select number of trees, PTI reported. He also said that since the authority had give permission last November, its decision couldn’t be challenged by the NGT.
Central government standing counsel Ripudaman Bhardwaj, appearing for ministries of Environment and Housing, said the ECs given by the Centre were in accordance with the earlier orders of the NGT.
The situation has given rise to a political blame game, with the Delhi wing of the BJP blaming the AAP government for approving the order, while the latter saying it was the Union government that had designed the project.
(With inputs from PTI, ANI and Hindustan Times)
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