High Court defers hearing

THE INDORE bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court on Thursday adjourned a hearing on a petition against the proposed felling of over 2,500 trees to pave the way for the second phase of the Bond Road scheme. The hearing is now likely to be taken up later.

THE INDORE bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court on Thursday adjourned a hearing on a petition against the proposed felling of over 2,500 trees to pave the way for the second phase of the Bond Road scheme. The hearing is now likely to be taken up later.

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The petition was filed by local environmental group ‘Society for Natural Habitat’ after the Corporation sought the Court’s permission to axe the trees to make way for the roads.

Thousands of trees are to be axed for the 12-odd roads to be constructed under the second phase of the Rs 50 crore Bond Road scheme for which the Centre has already agreed to sanction a sum of Rs 41 crore.

The largest number of trees, 1,217, would be required to be felled at VIP Road No 1 from Ramchandra Nagar to Mahesh Guard Lines while widening the stretch from Mahesh Guard Lines to Sanver Road would necessitate the axing of 127 trees.

Another 258 trees lining Rajkumar Bridge to AB Road via Race Course Road and 856 from Maharana Pratap crossing to Phuti Kothi were also to be felled as per the IMC proposal. At the time the petition was filed the Corporation had declared that it would compensate for the loss of green cover by planting thousands of saplings in the affected areas.

Civic body officials also underscored greening exercises undertaken at Pitra Parvat to highlight their concern for the environment.