No more trees will be cut down in the name of widening of roads in Jharkhand till further orders. Executive Engineer of Public Works Department, in a report submitted to the Jharkhand High Court has said that the court’s order will be duly followed with not more cutting of trees. The court, taking a suo motto cognizance on Tuesday, had summoned the officials of road construction department asking them to submit a report within 24 hours explaining the felling of trees in the name of construction.
In a report submitted by the road construction department to the Registrar General, Executive Engineer Jai Prakash Singh stated that no more trees will be cut down till further orders. The report also asserted that permission for cutting down 193 trees from Rajendra Chowk to Birsa Chowk was granted by the Forest Department of which 71 have already been cut down.
In his report, Singh also asserted that the trees are being cut for widening of roads after taking permission from the Forest Department. “The court’s order will be duly followed with no more cutting of trees,” stated Singh in the court. The Court of Justice PP Bhatt, taking a suo-motto cognizance on the issue of cutting of hundreds of trees in the name of widening of roads had put immediate stay on it on Tuesday. The court also had asked the concerned officials to submit a report on the issue within 24 hours.
When the court asked the officials on Tuesday that with whose permission so many trees were cut down, the officials could not provide any satisfactory answers following which it asked them to produce related documents in the court. Meanwhile, the court on Tuesday had also directed to issue notices to the Principal Secretaries of Road Construction Department and Forest Department along with the District Forest Officer of Ranchi. Engineer in Chief, Chief Engineer, Executive Engineer and Assistant Engineer of Road Construction department have also been summoned by the Court. The matter will be again taken up again on June 17.