SC green light for Maya’s Noida park

Casting aside the arguments of the local residents who taken the UP government to court,the Green Bench led by Chief Justice S H Kapadia observed that “one may feel strongly about cutting trees in such large numbers and question the wisdom behind replacing a patch of trees by large stone columns and statues,but that would not change the trees into a forest or the land over which those trees were standing into forest land”.

Justice Aftab Alam,who wrote the verdict,reasoned: In the plains,if a two-hectare land dotted with 50 trees can be deemed as a “forest”,then a “greater part of Lutyens’ Delhi would qualify as a forest”.

The judgment,however,is highly critical of the fact that the court was completely dependent on the environment studies prepared by the UP government or by its agencies,and not the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

The project was stayed by the Supreme Court for over a year.

The Bench also said it was concerned about the fate of the adjacent Okhla Bird Sanctuary,a haven for migratory birds,and so,limited the ‘pucca’ construction — including pavements,boundary wall,etc — to only 25 per cent of the total land area.

The UP government would now have to demolish some of the “hard surface” as it currently stands at 35.54 per cent.

Of the remaining 75 per cent land area,another 25 per cent would be covered with grass and the rest of the 50 per cent with a thick cover of trees.

The court also ordered the setting up of a three-member panel within two weeks,consisting of an ornithologist from the Ministry of Environment and Forests,a second member nominated by the CEC and the third none other than the Noida chairman.

The committee will oversee the construction in the park.