Delhi govt's fact-finding committee alleges illegal tree cutting in Chhatarpur's Ridge area
Jul 09, 2024
New Delhi [India], July 9 : The Fact-Finding Committee from the Kejriwal government on Tuesday uncovered the illegal felling of 1,100 trees in Chhatarpur's Ridge area, allegedly ordered by the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi.
Delhi ministers Saurabh Bharadwaj, Atishi, and Imran Hussain inspected the site, where trees were cut without Supreme Court permission to build a road from the Satbari forest area to SAARC Chowk.
Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj pointed out that the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) is destroying evidence by removing tree roots and trunks and questioned the motives behind the road construction, suggesting potential corruption. Atishi vowed that the committee would present its findings to the Supreme Court and call for strict action against those responsible.
The Aam Aadmi Party's Fact-Finding Committee, comprising Cabinet Ministers Saurabh Bharadwaj, Atishi, and Imran Hussain, is serious about investigating the illegal cutting of trees in the Ridge area of Delhi and conducted a field visit to the site.
During the visit, Committee member and Cabinet Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said that hundreds of trees have been cut in the name of widening the road. A completely new road has been built from the middle of the 'Satbari' forest area to SAARC Chowk. Earlier there were dense forests at this place. The Supreme Court has banned all work in this area. Despite this, work is going on with bulldozers here. The decision will be taken based on how many trees have been cut by looking at these roots and trunks. Therefore, the DDA is conspiring to uproot them completely and put a layer of soil here.
Saurabh Bharadwaj further said, "Despite the Supreme Court's ban, the DDA is continuously working here. On one side of this road are farmhouses of big millionaires and on the other side there is a dense forest. But instead of taking the land of the farmhouses to widen the road, thousands of trees were cut from the Ridge area. Just as the BJP government at the Centre took the land of poor farmers and built farmhouses for the rich here, in the same way, the land of the farmhouses could have been taken back to widen the roads. But without touching the land of their farmhouses, 1100 trees of the forest were cut."
