National Green Tribunal (NGT) will hear a petition on felling of trees by Central Public Department Work (CPWD), Ministry of Housing Urban Development (MoUD) and National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) on July 2 next month. A petition has been filed before the NGT against cutting 16,573 trees in South Delhi area to build a township.
According to the petition, fully grown trees are being chopped in premier locations of South Delhi, instance - Netaji Nagar, Naroji Nagar, the entities have not taken permission from Delhi Pollution Control Commission (DPCC) , the prime authority to take permission for cutting trees on Delhi land.
Meanwhile sources said that Delhi Government has granted permission for the cutting of 3500 tress only but in this case, a enormous number of 16,573 trees are being cut to make way the development. Green activists are concerned over the cutting of trees as Delhi is already reeling under vehicular and dust pollution. Activists and residents of South Delhi have threatened to stage a protest under “Chipko Movement”..
Activists in Delhi will assemble near Sarojini Nagar Police station and mark their protest against the government agencies under the tag “let’s hug the tress to save them on June 24. As per the documents accessed by The Pioneer, the government agencies have no answer to RTIs asking about the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) on this matter.
While Sarojini Nagar will be worst affected with the cutting of 11,000 trees out of 13,128 trees, Nauroji Nagar will also be affected with falling of 1465 of 1513 trees and Netaji Nagar witnessing the incessant cutting of 3033 trees and other areas including Kasturba Nagar, Mohammad Pur and RK Puram.
On one hand, dust has been caused respiratory issues and on the other hand the deforestation will matter even worse for the people of Delhi.
Around thousands of Delhi residents have already launched a protest by Whatsapp registering, giving missed calls and joining various WhatsApp groups. “Cutting tress on the name of development is absurd, why these agencies are not giving a thought on health of Delhi people, various studies of AIIMS have been read on health hazards due to air pollution,” said a petitioner.
“Deforestation is fraught with consequences as surface heat may get even worse”, said an environmentalist According to a MeT scientist, Delhi airport is already facing the consequences of it. “ With no tree around, the surface heat will play havoc with flight operations and runways will not be operational”..
It is very pertinent to mention here that On Friday, flight operations witnessed delays at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) as runways were abnormally hot and the temperature was recorded at 44.5 degree Celsius. “Major flight operations were delayed due to high temperature at IGIA,” said weather expert.