E-Paper
Punjab govt reviewing policy to sell trees on panchayat land
Acting on high court and NGT orders, rural development director restrains panchayats from auctioning and cutting trees till further directive
Following orders by the Punjab and Haryana high court and National Green Tribunal (NGT), the state government is reviewing the policy of selling trees on panchayat land.
Rural development and panchayats department director Manpreet Singh has issued an order restraining panchayats from auctioning and cutting trees on village land till further orders.
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In the order last week, the director referred to a high court stay on cutting trees on the plea of advocate HC Arora, seeking intervention against auction notices that the three panchayats had issued for the sale of khair trees. “It was directed that no trees shall be cut in the area concerned without the leave of the court,” the order read.
On the complaint of a Faridkot resident Gurpreet Singh Chandbaja, the NGT directed the Punjab principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF) to probe the matter and take remedial measures, including action against violators.
More than 2,000 full-grown trees on 135 acres at a defunct cooperative sugar mill have been axed to clear land for developing a housing project of the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) in the past four months.
The director said that following directions of the high court and the NGT, the government is reviewing its existing policy for selling trees, and therefore, restrained the panchayats from auctioning and cutting trees till further orders.
