New Delhi: National Green Tribunal (NGT) has imposed an environmental compensation of over Rs 95 lakh on Delhi govt’s transport department for illegal cutting of trees and failing to carry out the mandatory compensatory plantation during the construction of bus depots in Burari in 2019.
A plea by a local, Pramod Tyagi, was filed in NGT in Feb 2023, claiming over 3,000 trees were cut at the site without permission from the forest department, causing considerable environmental damage on the ground.
However, the forest department informed NGT it gave permission to fell or transplant 495 trees in 2019 and compensatory plantation was to be done in the ratio of 1:10. Hence, initially, 4,950 saplings were to be planted as compensatory plantation, but the agency was later asked to plant 705 additional trees, taking the total number of trees for compensatory plantation to 5,655 saplings. However, NGT was informed that out of 5,655 trees to be planted as compensatory plantation, only 800 survived.
Besides, permission was granted by the tree officer for the removal of trees in two ways — felling of 327 trees and transplantation of 168 trees. The forest department, which carried out an on-ground inspection last year, found that of the total 168 trees to be transplanted, it could identify only 89 trees at the site. And, of these 89 transplanted trees, only 27 were found in good condition while 62 were found in a dried condition.
NGT, in its order dated March 21, said the amount of interim environmental compensation due to the illegal cutting of 468 trees comes to Rs 46.8 lakh.
“A total of 468 trees (after adjusting 27 trees which have been transplanted and survived) were cut, which caused damage to the environment in an illegal manner, and, therefore, we compute interim compensation at the rate of Rs 10,000 per tree in the absence of details of the age and nature of the trees and other relevant considerations,” said the bench comprising Sudhir Agarwal, judicial member, and Dr Afroz Ahmad, expert member.
Besides, for causing damage to the environment by not carrying out compensatory plantation of 5,655 trees (after adjusting 800 transplanted saplings that are surviving), the interim compensation was computed at the rate of Rs 1,000 per tree, totalling an amount of Rs 48.2 lakh.
“For illegal cutting of trees and not carrying out compensatory plantation, the total environmental compensation as an interim measure comes to Rs 95 lakh (Rs 46,80,000 plus Rs 48,25,000), which is payable by respondent 1 (Delhi govt’s transport department),” NGT said, adding that the amount must be deposited with DPCC within two months.
The tribunal said the interim environmental compensation should be utilised for the remediation of the damaged environment in accordance with the environment remediation plan, which will be prepared and executed in the next three months by a joint committee.
NGT has asked all pollution control boards in the country to use the same guidelines it used for calculating the environmental compensation for the illegal felling of trees in Burari to assess similar damage.
