South Delhi eco zone now a shrine to 1,100 felled trees

Around 1,100 trees were allegedly illegally hacked for the project, and the matter is currently being heard in the Supreme Court

A 2.3km stretch of the Chhattarpur Satbari-Gaushala road, which is in the process of being widened into a six-lane road to extend up to the AIIMS-CAPFMIS campus at Maidan Garhi, is lined with chopped stumps, strewn bark and dead branches as haunting evidence of illegal tree-felling in the eco-sensitive zone around Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary.

Remnants of large trees can be seen in the shape of thick stumps with a circumference of about 2-3 metres along the stretch. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

Around 1,100 trees were allegedly illegally hacked for the project, and the matter is currently being heard in the Supreme Court.

The initial petition, by environmentalist Bindu Kapurea against Delhi Development Authority (DDA) vice-chair Subhashish Panda, mentioned that over 1,100 trees were cut in the area. The petitioner submitted pictures, maps and other evidence to the court.

When the apex court went through the report, it noticed that lapses were committed by DDA and other authorities including the Delhi government’s environment and forests department, among others. The court observed that on February 14 this year, the principal secretary of Delhi’s forest department issued a notification under Delhi Preservation of Trees Act (DPTA) to fell 422 trees. However, the top court observed that “by DDA’s own admission, 633 trees were cut.”

However, it added: “Our impression is that many more trees beyond 633 were cut.”

In the last hearing on June 26, a vacation bench of justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan observed that the role of Delhi’s lieutenant governor (LG) in the decision-making needed to be ascertained, asking the DDA vice-chair for a clear statement of facts on who ordered the felling of trees.

DDA and the LG’s office did not respond to queries from HT on the issue.

The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has jumped into the issue as part of its ongoing tussle with the LG’s office and the Delhi bureaucracy, citing emails that allegedly show the chain of violations.

Now, even as a battle continues over how the felling happened, and what clearances were accorded, the situation at the ground tells its own story.

Ground situation

As one turns right from the main Chhattarpur Road towards the two-lane Gaushala Road, the initial 200 metres is a narrow stretch, largely deserted, with few vehicles on it. It then opens to a wider stretch on the left, where the trees have been hacked to widen the road.

The stretch is at various stages of development, and as one enters it, the first 100 metres are lined with tree trunks, trunks of trees, giving it a hard-pruned look. Locals say some of these trees were spared because work was stopped.

“Work was gradually happening, but some senior officials visited in February. Since then, they have been working day and night to finish this road. Most trees were cut only after that, and half the road has been built. There were workers everywhere and at all times. But work suddenly stopped last month. These trees at the start of the stretch were also marked and would also have been cut, but were probably left along because of the court case,” Puran Singh, who has been running a tea stall on this road since 2016, said.

On the flip side, Singh said that since construction of most of the institutions around the road started in 2016, the constant movement of workers at these construction sites has been good business for him.

HT found that the hard-pruned trees were numbered with red paint, but it was not immediately clear what these indicated. Generally, trees that are cut for developmental projects are marked for appropriate compensatory afforestation. However, officials did not confirm if this was the case since the matter is in court.

Around a kilometre ahead, the barks disappear in the next part of the road. Remnants of large trees can be seen in the shape of thick stumps with a circumference of about 2-3 metres along the stretch. HT noticed at least 50 such large stumps in the area.

The next phase of the stretch is clear, with evidence of a road being constructed. This extends up to a kilometre — all signs of vegetation are erased here — and layered with reddish gravel and stone. A drainage line, parallel to the road, is almost complete.

Rehman Ali, a resident of Maidan Garhi village, said: “This narrow road goes up to the Gummat temple and was constructed several years ago. It was lined with trees on both sides. All this additional road work has happened only in the last six months. There was some illegal construction also that has been demolished to make the new road, but mostly, there were trees here.”

Around 1.7km into the Gaushala Road, there is a fork with a locked police post on the apex. The existing two-lane road continues towards the Gummat temple on the left. On the right, the gravel-layered path continues for another 600m, with a 100-foot-wide black-topped stretch that ends at the AIIMS-CAPFMIS campus.

The political row

The ongoing case has sparked yet another row between the government and the bureaucracy in Delhi. After the last hearing, environment minister Gopal Rai formed a three-minister fact-finding committee and directed the forest department officials to submit a report explaining the lapses. However, the principal secretary concerned, AK Singh, did not respond, claiming that the committee was formed in violation of norms.

It is unclear how many trees were cut in the area, especially since none of the agencies were ready to share details because of the matter being subjudice.

According to a Delhi gazette notification issued on February 14, there were 422 trees at the project site that the LG allowed to be exempted under the Delhi preservation of Trees Act, 1994. This included an area of 4.9955 hectares for the construction of approach roads from “main Chhatarpur road to SAARC University, CAPFIMS and other establishments at Maidan Garhi, Sayurpur and Satbari”.

“No permission for the felling of trees was given by the forest department. The tree officer of the area also served two notices to DDA,” a forest department official, not wanting to be named, said.

Mahavir Dagar, Maidan Garhi RWA president, said, “It may now seem like the trees have only been cut in the small section in front, but they have cleared the entire patch from the beginning of the road up to this campus. There were thousands of trees here; we cannot put a number to it. And all this has happened in the past few months. It just shows how the authorities can work very fast when they want to.”

Amid the felling of trees, the court case, and the political fight over it, there is some hope, as recent rains have sparked some regrowth and tiny branches with bright green leaves are now peeking from around almost all the stumps. Having been left undisturbed, these trees are trying to survive against the odds.