If trees were voters, they would not be hacked. This was the reaction of the Delhi High Court which suggested a CAG audit of timber generated by either encroachers or the authorities for various projects in the national capital.
“If trees were included in electoral roll as voters, then they would remain,” a bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Ashutosh Kumar said after being told that a huge number of trees have been felled by local authorities, like Delhi Metro, for projects and by encroachers, like in the Asola sanctuary.
The court was hearing a PIl initiated by it on the issue of air pollution and its causes, one of which was the decline in forest and green cover in Delhi and its surrounding areas.
The bench was also of the view that there should be an audit by the CAG into the number of trees felled in Delhi and what was done with the timber generated.