The Centrally Empowered Committee (CEC), the forest panel of the Supreme Court, has turned down a Commonwealth Games related proposal of the Public Works Department’s (PWD). The agency had suggested cutting down trees for widening the road and covering a storm water drain to “beautify and avoid the foul smell” on August Kranti Marg.

Over 800 trees have already been cut down in the Siri Fort area to create a stadium for the Games.

The PWD had two proposals for the area adjoining the stadium. The first was to cut down 326 trees along Siri Fort Road and widen it by 3 metres on each side — so the cavalcades can reach the venues.

The other was to cut down 78 trees along August Kranti Marg and the storm water drain. The proposal also called for covering the drain to widen the road. In its application, the PWD argued that this was for “road widening and also because of the foul smell emanating from the nullah carrying sewage and other waste — keeping in view the location and the stadium near the nullah”.

But during a visit to the site, the CEC found that the “sewage” canal — which finds mention in the Masterplan as a storm water drain — was just that: a storm water drain which only carries rain water.

In its report filed to the Supreme Court, the CEC noted: “It is found that the nullah proposed to be covered for widening the road is actually a storm water drain. Prima facie, the proposed design for the covering of the nullah may result in flooding in different areas en-route.”

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