7,300 native trees to ‘mitigate’ damage by park project

Facing flak for having allegedly reduced the natural habitat for birds of the centre-protected Okhla Bird Park and Wild Life Sanctuary, the Noida Authority now wants to undo the damage by planting 7,300 trees belonging to native species at the adjoining Bhim Rao Ambedkar Memorial Park project.

Facing flak for having allegedly reduced the natural habitat for birds of the centre-protected Okhla Bird Park and Wild Life Sanctuary, the Noida Authority now wants to undo the damage by planting 7,300 trees belonging to native species at the adjoining Bhim Rao Ambedkar Memorial Park project.

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“The authority’s proposal, submitted to the apex court on Friday, was in response to recommendation made by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) in which it sought planting of native species trees instead of ‘fruiting’ and ‘exotic’ trees,” said a senior official.

The proposal needs to be approved by the apex court, which is hearing a petition demanding ban on the memorial park project owing to its adverse impact on the bird park in Okhla, after which the authority will plant the 7,300 additional trees.

Last Monday, HT had first reported the 12 BNHS recommendations on measures to be undertaken by the UP government to “mitigate the impact” of the controversial memorial park project, where all construction activities were suspended last October, on the bird park.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), which had requested the BNHS to examine the issue and submit its report, has approved the Rs 685 crore memorial park project conditional to the implementation of the BNHS recommendations.

“The 7,300 trees will be of native species such as Neem, Pipal, Sheesham, Arjun, and Maulshree,” said the Noida Authority official.

He added, “To improve the habitat right away, we will plant trees of at least five years and not saplings.”