Gurgaon NGO will move green tribunal to remove concrete around trees

The petitioner says the district administration flouted directives issued by the green tribunal in February 2016.

Even a year after the National Green Tribunal (NGT) ordered removal of concrete around trees across Gurgaon, nothing much has moved on the ground, alleged a city-based NGO.

A year after the National Green Tribunal ordered the administration to remove concrete around trees along Sector 31 road, no action has been taken. According to the petitioner, concrete is piled up around 15,000 trees in (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

The environment activists claimed that the district administration had also failed to remove high tension cables encircling trees.

The NGO will move an affidavit at the tribunal on Tuesday detailing how the administration flouted the NGT directive.

Responding to a petition filed in July 2015, the green tribunal, in February 2016, directed the district administration to have concrete and high tension cables around trees removed at the earliest. However, there has not been a hint of compliance so far.

“It is shocking to note that in a city, which has been losing its green cover bit by bit every year, the district authorities have failed to protect the existing trees as well,” Vivek Kamboj, the petitioner and member of Hariyali Welfare Society, a city-based NGO, said.

Kamboj said at all major locations across the city, the trees are literally found buried under a pile of concrete. He said scores of trees across Civil Lines, near the forest department and residences of the police commissioner and his deputy are trapped in a heap of concrete. Yet, the authorities are unmoved.

According to the petitioner, as many as 15,000 trees in the Haryana Urban Development Authority (Hdua ) and the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) areas need to be de-concreted immediately.

“Now, new trees have been added to this ever-burgeoning list. We’ll move the NGT again as there has been no compliance as yet,” Kamboj said.

However, a senior forest official claimed his department isn’t responsible for clearing concrete around trees.

The NGT took serious objection to high tension wires still found circling around trees and directed authorities concerned to have them removed at the earliest.

In March 2016, a bench headed by justice UD Salvi issued an order saying power utilities should coordinate with civic authorities in trimming branches of trees entangled with overhead wires.

“The cables around trees are weakening them at the root and are leading to their demise by preventing mutation,” Kamboj said.

An official of the Huda said the authority is looking into the matter. “We are working on a plan to have concrete and wires around trees removed,” VK Nirala, Huda official, said.