Because of the approved tree-felling, the national capital has lost 1,54,000 years of tree life, the Delhi High Court noted that government undertakings must invariably take environmental concerns into account. The Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994’s sections 9 and 29 allowed for 77,420 trees to be chopped down or fallen in the years 2019, 2020, and 2021, the court noted in its prior judgment as it heard a claim of contempt about the removal of trees. If each tree had an average age of 20 years, Delhi would have lost 1,54,000 years of tree life as a result of the allowed tree-felling.
The pollution of both sound and air is just becoming worse with each tree that is cut down.
Unquestionably, a tree on PWD property cannot be removed without the knowledge of the officer in charge of that area of land or road. The Tree Officer recorded damage to 80+3 trees following the site assessment. The respondent authorities’ attorney informed the court right away that they wanted to volunteer to plant 830 trees in and around the Supreme Court, as well as on the stretch of Mathura Road and other locations in Central and East Delhi that the Forest Department may identify in order to atone for their wrongdoings.
“In the area that has just been made available next to the Supreme Court and is bordered by an underground loop connecting Pragati Maidan and the Supreme Court, at least 100 trees must be planted, the Court said. In earlier hearings on the case, the court expressed worry over removing fully grown trees from the city, saying it would be acceptable and prudent to transplant such trees rather than remove them. Additionally, the court had stressed the importance of each and every tree in a neighbourhood and had claimed that compensatory afforestation, which is a “geographically remote and embryonic compensatory plantation, can scarcely be of any respite or true compensation.”
