The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought a response from the Union and the state government on a PIL seeking direction to de-concretise pavements in Delhi in order to protect trees from being deprived of water and nutrition.

Pointing to the chaos faced by the citizens in the Capital on August 21, when several trees were uprooted due to the storm leading to long traffic jams, the petitioner said trees’ roots are weakened due to concrete pavements.

“The roots of trees are being weakened by the government’s action because of rampant concretisation of pavements in the Capital. The concrete has to be removed for the protection of trees,” advocate Sugriv Dubey submitted before a Bench headed by Chief Justice A P Shah. The court then issued a notice to the government and asked for a reply on steps taken for protection of trees.