Kanwar Yatra route: NGT asks UP chief secretary to take action on alleged illegal tree cutting

New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Uttar Pradesh chief secretary to take action after verifying the allegation of a Forest Survey of India (FSI) officer about the illegal cutting of trees on a route being constructed for the pilgrims' march during the 'kanwar yatra' in the state.

In an order dated February 28, a bench of NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava noted that the tribunal had allowed the FSI Joint Director Meera Iyer to file a response separately in January.

"Meera Iyer has filed a separate response on February 20 stating that the FSI has identified several locations where tree-felling had exceeded 20 metres. She has also enclosed the photographs, showing the position of the stretch in 2022 and the satellite image of May 2024 disclosing that trees beyond 20 metres have been cut," said the bench also comprising judicial member Justice Sudhir Agarwal and expert member A Senthil Vel.

Earlier, the Stage-I approval by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) provided permission for cutting trees only between 15-20 metres.

The tribunal said, "We are of the opinion that once it has been disclosed in the report of such a high officer that in certain stretches felling of trees beyond 20 metres has been done and satellite images have been enclosed, then the competent authority of the state must verify it, ascertain its correctness and if illegal felling of trees beyond 20 metres has taken place then take appropriate action against those who are responsible for such illegal felling of trees."

The tribunal directed the state's chief secretary to "ensure compliance of the direction through a competent officer." It noted the submissions of the additional advocate general (AAG) that the state was at present in the process of realigning the entire stretch to reduce the felling of trees.

"She (AAG) has informed that a stretch of about 62 kilometres is already constructed for which 17, 607 trees have been cut and after the realignment 49.4-km road is to be constructed, which will result in the felling of 9,417 trees, including 1,299 plants," the tribunal noted.

It then asked the AAG to file an affidavit of the competent authority in this regard, disclosing the full details.

During the proceedings, Akash Vashishtha, counsel for the interveners in the matter, argued that the Stage-I approval for the project was granted by the MOEF&CC without any public consultation.

The matter has been posted for further proceedings on April 7.

The NGT was hearing a case related to the alleged felling of more than one lakh trees and shrubs in the protected forest area across three forest divisions of Ghaziabad, Meerut and Muzaffarnagar for the proposed 111-km route between Muradnagar in Ghaziabad district and Purkaji in Muzaffarnagar district near the Uttarakhand border.