Tribunal stays felling of trees for DC office complex at Padil

The Chennai bench of the National Green Tribunal has ordered status quo at the site of the proposed Deputy Commissioner's office complex at Padil near here and barred felling of trees in the area for construction purposes.
In the order issued yesterday, the tribunal comprising judicial member P Jyothimani and expert member P S Rao said that 'no tree shall be cut down and no existing structure shall be demolished in the 5.89 acres of land at Padil earmarked for the project until further orders."
The order was passed on a petition by city-based advocate Suma R Nayak.
It directed the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change to depute a team ledby the Chief Conservator of Forests from its regional office in Bengaluru to inspect the entire area and submit a report on the nature, type and species of the trees there.

The ministry was asked to file the report before the next hearing in the case posted for July 7.
According to Nayak, the NGT will give its final order after studying the expert committee report.

The NGT order comes after environmental activists opposed the felling of trees for the office complex saying the nature and girth of the trees to be felled had not been mentioned in the application by the deputy commissioner to the state Forests department, which had approved the project.
Deputy Commissioner A B Ibrahim had said that necessary clearance had been obtained for felling of trees from the departments concerned.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had laid the foundation stone for the Rs 41 crore office complex project at a function here on April 21.