The National Green Tribunal today directed the Public Works Department to show it how many trees can be saved by reducing at certain areas the width of the proposed four-lane surface road connected to the elevated corridor from Vikaspuri to Mukarba Chowk here.
A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar directed the PWD to undertake the exercise after the tribunal was informed by the petitioner, who has challenged clearance granted to the elevated corridor project, that reducing the width of the road at certain areas by two to four feet can save 126 trees on a one kilometer section of the four-km stretch from Vikaspuri to Meera Bagh.
"Why can't you do that (reduce the width)? Even if you are able to save 50 twenty to twenty five years old trees, its worth it," the bench said, adding "you better do something. You can't just knock off trees to accommodate some vehicles. You can zig-zag the road at certain portions."
NGT directed the PWD to show on the next date of hearing, January 29, how many trees can be saved after it did not agree with the petitioner Aditya Prasad's claim that 126 trees need not be felled if road width is reduced by 2 to 3 feet.
During the hearing, Prasad also submitted that the April 2013 notification allowing felling of 785 trees on the stretch from Vikaspuri to Meera Bagh has been issued by the current PWD Secretary, who at that time was link officer to the on leave Environment Secretary of Delhi government and contended that "no one should be a judge in their own cause".
He also said that despite NGT seeking an environment impact assessment (EIA) report regarding the project, the same has not been provided till date, adding that the stretch has been notified as a critically polluted area and any construction there requires environment clearance (EC).
