The Delhi government has granted a special exemption under the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994, to facilitate the construction of a trunk drain from Kirari to a supplementary drain near Rithala in northwest Delhi.
According to a notification issued on January 1, Lieutenant-Governor V K Saxena has exempted a 3.2-hectare area from the provision since it lays down that tree-related permissions can be considered only for projects covering up to one hectare at a time. With the project exceeding that limit, a special exemption was required.
However, the government has clarified that the exemption does not amount to permission to cut or transplant trees and such will be examined separately.
The exemption has been granted under Section 29 of the Act in public interest, the notification stated.
The proposal was submitted by the Delhi Development Authority’s Rohini Project Division-I, which sought permission for the transplantation or felling of 84 trees affected during Phase I of the drain construction. The application was examined by the Tree Officer of the North Forest Division.
The notification, a copy of whichThe Indian Expresshas seen, stated that the exemption was required as the Tree Officer can ordinarily process applications only up to one hectare under Section 9(3) of the Act. The order therefore exempts the larger project area “from the limitation of maximum one hectare area under sub-section (3) of Section 9 of the said Act”.
“This notification… shall not, in any case, be considered as permission for transplantation/felling of trees,” it also stated, adding that applications related to tree felling or transplantation will be examined separately and independently by the Tree Officer under existing laws, rules, guidelines and court orders, with directions to minimise the number of affected trees.
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The notification also included detailed geographical coordinates marking the boundaries of the exempted area between Kirari and Rithala.
The order was issued by Vijay Kumar Bidhuri, Secretary (Environment and Forests), on the L-G’s direction.
Several such exemptions were also made last year.The Indian Expresshad reported that an exemption was granted to a government housing project at Kasturba Nagar Phase-II, with the potential construction affecting felling or transplanting for 856 trees.
