New Delhi: To address complaints related to dangerous trees, Delhi govt has issued a gazette notification providing clarity on emergency cases where a tree poses an immediate danger to infrastructure, life, property or traffic, and can be removed.The steps can be taken by individuals, RWAs, land-owning agencies or agencies concerned without prior approval, provided the matter is reported to the tree officer within 24 hours with proof, including photographs from at least three different angles.The notification came in June after an order of lieutenant governor V K Saxena. Delhi govt, using the powers under Section 33 of Delhi Preservation of Trees (DPT) Act, 1994, directed tree officers in this regard. “Section 8 of DPT Act mandates that no tree shall be felled, removed or disposed of without prior permission from the tree officer. However, it provides an exception for emergency cases where a tree poses an immediate danger to life, property or traffic,” an official stated earlier.The gazette notification provides an indicative list of situations where such action can be taken. It states that if trees stand on or grow into the right of way of roads, bridges, underpasses, overbridges and foot overbridges in a manner that poses danger to life and property or obstructs the free flow of traffic, the owner or occupier of such land can remove or prune them immediately.Similarly, if trees grow into the right of way of drains and sewer lines, hampering flow of sewerage, or if trees fall within the precincts of a heritage building or grow in a manner that endangers its structural safety and hampers its restoration, the owner or agency can remove or prune them immediately and inform the tree officer.“If a tree falls or grows on the precinct of any building, residential or official or commercial, or extends into the balconies or walls in a manner that endangers the structural safety of the building, the land-owning agency, individual, or RWAs in the case of housing societies, after self-certification regarding ownership, shall be able to remove or prune such trees immediately and inform the tree officer. If it hampers the right of way of a railway track or metro installation or if dried-up or dead trees lean in a precarious manner, being vulnerable to fall in the event of a storm, the land-owning agency or individual shall be able to remove them,” stated the notification.The parties need to provide geo-coordinates and justification for the action, along with post-action images, on the e-Forest portal. “If at a later stage it is found anyone has misused this provision, he or she will be liable for action under relevant forest laws,” stated the notification.
