BJP alleges Kejriwal approved felling trees in Ridge; AAP says claim misleading

At a press conference, the BJP's Delhi unit chief Virendra Sachdeva presented documents purporting to show that Kejriwal and Environment Minister Gopal Rai "knew" about the tree felling.

New Delhi: The BJP alleged on Friday that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal himself approved the felling of trees in the Ridge area even as AAP hit back, saying the saffron party's claim on the issue was misleading.

During a press conference, the BJP's Delhi unit chief Virendra Sachdeva presented documents purporting to show that Kejriwal and Environment Minister Gopal Rai "knew" about the tree felling.

He also called for Rai and his ministerial colleague Saurabh Bharadwaj -- who have accused Lt Governor VK Saxena of authorising the tree felling -- to immediately resign.

"Kejriwal himself not only approved the felling of trees in the Ridge area of Chhatarpur on January 24 but also made a remark that the lieutenant governor was bound by the aid and advice of the chief minister and the Cabinet," Sachdeva claimed.

The document clearly shows that the Kejriwal and Rai always knew about the tree felling as they approved it, he charged.

Rai signed the file for felling trees on January 23 and it got the chief minister's nod the following day, Sachdeva said.

AAP leaders have alleged that 1,100 trees in the southern Ridge area were cut by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on the lieutenant governor's verbal instructions.

It said in a statement that the Supreme Court was asking about 1,100 trees while the BJP showed some documents about 424 trees. These are totally different matters.

"The BJP is presenting misleading information despite full knowledge of illegal felling of 1,100 trees in Delhi's Satbari forest," AAP alleged.

The BJP is misleading the people with questionable documents on 424 trees on a different issue while the Supreme Court is looking into the felling of 1,100 trees in the eco-sensitive zone of Satbari, it claimed.

The party also asked why the document purporting to contain the chief minister's approval for cutting the trees, as claimed by the BJP, were not being presented in the Supreme Court.

"Why is the lieutenant governor and the DDA suffering everyday humiliation in the Supreme Court when they have all the valid permissions?" AAP asked.

AAP has claimed 1,100 trees were surreptitiously cut in Delhi's Chattarpur area, an eco-sensitive zone called the Ridge, by the DDA, whose chairman is Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena.