SC panel turns down plea to axe trees,cover drain for Games project

Interestingly,when the CEC,the forest bench of the SC,first turned down the request to cut the trees,the PWD in a revised draft,submitted a much smaller number of trees to be cut down: 23. In further submissions and revisions to the CEC,the PWD suggested it would cut down 38 trees for the project.

The CEC had earlier expressed dissatisfaction with the PWD’s proposal,saying covering the drain would lead to flooding and the tree-cutting could be avoided.

The PWD,however,pleaded it is “urgent and necessary” to straighten the alignment of August Kranti Marg with Balbir Saxena Marg in front of the Siri Fort auditorium,which currently is crooked and according to the PWD,leads to traffic congestions. The drain,which swells up in the monsoon,creates a ‘foul smell’,the PWD had said.

“Can you give any examples in Delhi where a drain has been covered and there hasn’t been flooding?” the CEC asked the PWD at a meeting.

The CEC has finally recommended that a slip road be constructed on the drain to ease passage of the Games cavalcade to the Siri Fort auditorium. For that,the CEC has agreed to a proposal to axe 15 trees to create the slip road on partial stilts to cover the drain at this intersection. The CEC has approved covering around 35 metres of the channel to avoid flooding.

The CEC’s recommendations come at a time where rainwater drains are being covered for various projects. While Lieutenant-Governor Tejendra Khanna has emphasised the importance of drains and channels,the Barapullah drain is being covered to make way for a parking lot. In Defence Colony,a large freshwater drain is being concretised to create walkways for residents,while on Lodi Road another drain has been covered for the Games.

The case
Residents of Siri Fort had filed a case with the SC after trees were axed in the area for the Games projects.

Nearly 800 trees,part of a non-notified forest,were cut down in the area for a second stadium,which the residents called pointless since there was already a stadium in the locality.

For the road-widening project,their plea was that they didn’t want to lose trees outside their residences.