New Delhi: The Forest Survey of India (FSI) has told the Supreme Court that 1,670 trees were felled in the Delhi Ridge by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), a figure that is much more than those cited by the Delhi forest department and DDA.
The FSI report also contradicts an affidavit submitted by Delhi Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena to the Supreme Court, wherein he had claimed only 642 trees were cut. Saxena had said that, according to DDA records, the argument put forth by the contempt petitioner of over 1,100 trees being cut was not correct.
Earlier, while the Delhi forest department had said that 745 trees were felled, the DDA had claimed that the figure was 642, reported Hindustan Times.
“As estimated by FSI, total number of trees felled are 1,136 trees inside recorded forest area (RFA) and 534 trees outside RFA,” the FSI said in its report before Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud in a contempt petition pending against the DDA vice chairman.
“These differences clearly indicate that the number of trees proposed for felling and number of trees actually felled were grossly underreported. Similarly, the number of trees reported to be felled is less than half the number estimated by FSI,” the FSI report added.
The figure of felled trees furnished by the FSI is more than double of what was claimed by the DDA and Delhi forest department.
The matter pertains to the felling of trees, which the apex court believes was done at the behest of Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena and that officials are trying to “protect higher-ups“. The trees were cut in violation of norms in the Chhatarpur area of Delhi to widen the road leading to the South Asian University and Central Armed Police Forces Institute of Medical Sciences (CAPFIMS). The trees were cut after LG’s visit.