A status report of the Delhi government's Forest Department shows that the required number of saplings have not been planted as compensation for trees removed during the renovation of the chief minister's official residence, while some translocated big trees also perished in the process.
The renovation of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's official residence 6 at Flagstaff Road in Civil Lines has kicked up a row with the BJP staging a stir alleging a "scam" in Rs 45 crore spent on beautification of the "Shessh Mahal".
Attending a dharna of the Delhi BJP near Kejriwal's residence, Union minister Meenakshi Lekhi attacked the chief minister and alleged that several big trees aged hundreds of years perished due to improper translocation during renovation work.
No immediate reaction was available from the ruling AAP over the issue, though its leaders had earlier defended renovation, saying the old official residence of the chief minister was constructed way back in 1942 and at least three incidents of pieces of its roof falling were reported recently.
The status report based on a field visit by a Forest Department officer said 280 saplings were to be planted to compensate for those removed from a green belt near Metcalfe House in Civil Lines.
However, only 83 were found planted while 60 pits were empty, meaning the saplings could have dried and died. Also, there was nothing to show about planting of 137 remaining saplings, the report claimed. It further said that out of 19 trees that were translocated only one was found surviving while 11 others were either dead or had dried. The remaining seven trees were not found anywhere indicating that they were not transplanted, it said.
These trees were translocated to a PWD office near Khyber Pass and a PWD nursery near Majnu Ka Tila. As per the Delhi tree transplantation policy 2020, it is mandatory to transplant 80 per cent of old trees cut for an infrastructure project and carry out 10 times of compensatory plantation in addition.
The deputy range officer, in his report, stated that five applications were moved to cut a total of 28 trees -- nine in November 2020, two in January 2021, Six in August 2021, another 6 in February 2022 and five in April 2022 at 6 Flagstaff Road. As per the department of forest and wildlife, the felling and transplantation of 10 or less trees does not require the permission of the competent authority. Lekhi alleged that numbers of trees to be removed were "deliberately" kept lower than 10 to avoid required permission and keep things under the wraps.
