No trees planted after expansion of roads, RTI reveals
GURUGRAM: A Right to Information (RTI) query has revealed that the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) and the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) have failed to carry out compensatory afforestation after felling trees for expansion of roads in various parts of the city over a period of four years.
Despite obtaining the necessary permissions and repeated reminders from the forest department, the mandated reforestation efforts have not been implemented. The RTI disclosure reveals negligence by GMDA and MCG in addressing the environmental i mpact of urban development.
Vaishali Rana, a city-based environmentalist who filed the RTI, said while trees were cut to facilitate road widening and other infrastructure projects, the compensatory afforestation (CA), which is legally required to offset the environmental damage, remains unfulfilled.
“When high-ranking officials in GMDA, do not bother about the pending CA, then what can we expect from regular citizens? And this is despite the forest department giving at least ten reminders specifically to the nodal officer, environment wing MCG, in a letter dated July 27, 2022 for CA,” she said.
Rana said seven permissions were sought and 10 reminders have been sent by the forest department but all in vain.
“The civic agencies obtained permission to cut down 502 trees in the city. However, only 124 trees (24%) were transplanted, and no compensatory afforestation was conducted last year in the city. These numbers raise serious questions about the effectiveness of environmental conservation efforts in Gurugram. The city’s green cover has been steadily diminishing due to various development projects, but the promised compensatory afforestation has not materialised, primarily due to space constraints,” she said.
Over the years, thousands of trees have been felled in Gurugram for infrastructure and development projects.
Despite this, the mandated compensatory afforestation efforts have been largely neglected. The forest department’s RTI response sheds light on the inadequacies in current environmental practices, calling for urgent and concrete measures to address the growing imbalance between urban development and environmental sustainability.
Rajeev Tejyan, district forest officer of Gurugram, stated that both the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) and the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) had obtained permission to cut trees for road expansion purposes, which was granted.
“They had committed to planting trees in compensation, but despite repeated reminders, this has not been completed. We are still waiting for their report regarding the plantation and its location,” he said.
Tejyan said that there is currently no legal provision enabling them to take action against agencies that fail to adhere to such directives. “Although GMDA and MCG conduct annual plantation drives in an attempt to compensate, we do not possess accurate data on their efforts,” he said.
In response, Manoj Kumar, executive engineer of MCG Horticulture wing said that he joined in February this year and does not have old data.
“This year we have plans to plant at least 4 lakh saplings in the city and to increase the count by end of the year. We will ensure compensatory afforestation in further expansion work,” he said.
On the other hand, GMDA officials said that they conduct plantation drives during monsoons and the plantation target for GMDA in 2023-24 was 10,50,000 of which 10,86,750 has been achieved.
Subhash Yadav, additional chief executive officer of GMDA, said that 35,849 trees and 10,50,901 shrubs have already been planted this year.