Citizens For Green Doon (CFGD) group alleged on Tuesday that the Public Works Department (PWD) had purposely twisted the order of Uttarakhand High Court regarding the widening of lansdowne Chowk and threatened to file contempt proceedings against the Executive Engineer PWD unless the work was immediately halted.
It was stated a letter submitted to the PWD Executive Engineer, that despite the HC rulings about not taking land from Parade Ground or Gandhi Park for road widening, the EE had deliberately misconstrued the facts to make it appear that conditions laid down by the court had been fulfilled. The letter also regretted the approval of Dehradun divisional forest officer for tree falling in the area without verifying the facts. Permission was granted for axing more than three dozen green trees on the Parade Ground.
According to CFGD chief coordinator Dr Nitin Pandey, while the High Court had ordered that land may be taken from Parade Ground if an equal area of land was provided for making a park within city limits and near the Gandhi Park, the PWD had shown a land at Tarla Nagal village with over 10,000 trees, 11 kms from Gandhi Park and outside the city limits as the replacement land, which is totally incorrect. He said that it was incredible that an attempt was being made to develop a park in land which is deemed forest.
He said that the group would be filing a contempt notice if work on the project was not immediately halted and they would meet the District Magistrate on Wednesday to seek his immediate intervention. The former Pradhan of Tarla Nagal village, Shyamlal said that the authorities had visited the village last year regarding the construction of park there but the villagers have been strongly opposed this plan then and now.