Debangana Ray
Published on July 12, 2022 at 18:35 IST
The Delhi High Court asked the forest department under the Delhi government to provide data of the trees felled illegally and without permission in the last three years.
Justice Najmi Waziri took note of the data submitted by the forest department that more than 77,000 trees cut, at the rate of three per hour, is excluding those which have been felled “illegally”.
According to the petitioner, if the instances of illegal deforestation, trees cut down for forest clearance and those lost to the storm, which are not accounted for in the affidavit are considered, the figures may be twice or four times the current number.
He also informed the court that as per a “green census” carried out in a certain area in the city, 77 trees were found to be missing and the figure rose to 177 missing after verification by the authorities.
The court said the city cannot afford to lose 77,000 trees and asked the department to disclose the data on the trees cut without permission.
The court in its order said that, “ In 2019, 2020, 2021, 77,420 trees were permitted to be cut down. This comes to about three trees per hour in the past three years.”
“These figures are only for trees which were allowed to be felled under Section 9, 29 of Delhi Trees Preservation Act. Let the forest department file an affidavit on the missing data as well as its response to the figure of three trees being lost every hour.”