Saturday, 17 September 2022 | PNS | NAINITAL
The Uttarakhand High Court has vacated its earlier stay order on the proposed axing of 2,057 trees for widening of the Sahastradhara Road. Hearing the public interest litigation against the proposed tree felling, the division bench of Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice RC Khulbe has directed the State government to transplant about 600 trees under the supervision of the Forest Research Institute (FRI).
According to the case details, Dehradun resident Ashish Garg had filed the PIL in the High Court, challenging the planned cutting of the 2,057 trees for widening the road from Jogiwala to Sahastradhara Road in Dehradun. The petitioner had stated that the Dehradun valley is already suffering from the ill-effects of climate change and decreasing greenery with heat islands also developing in places, adding that cutting of these trees would exacerbate the environmental damage in the provisional State capital. While Sahastradhara is known for its natural water spring and greenery, the planned axing of trees to widen the road would leave the stretch of the road bereft of greenery. According to the petitioner, he is now planning to approach the Supreme Court. Following the earlier HC order to transplant 972 trees, the department concerned had transplanted about 300 trees but the petitioner pointed out that this was done in a haphazard manner and should be done under the supervision of the FRI.
It will be recalled that the plan to axe thousands of trees on the stretch of the road from Jogiwala towards Sahastradhara had elicited strong protests from concerned citizens and various environmental and public groups. The concerned citizens have questioned the plan to widen the road for the convenience of tourists at the cost of the environment at a time when the importance of the environment and the ill-effects of climate change are being experienced in Dehradun and its neighbouring areas.
