NEW DELHI: The National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) on Monday has defended its stand on the redevelopment project that it has undertaken in seven colonies of South Delhi by stating that they are planting more trees in place required for the development area. Meanwhile the Delhi High court has put a stay order on felling of trees till the next hearing.
"While redeveloping the colonies, special care and attention is being given towards retaining maximum number of existing trees and incorporating them in a large cluster as an integral part of landscaping design scheme" said Anoop Kumar Mittal CMD, NBCC.
While the protest over the ecological imbalance created by cutting more than 16,000 trees continues the NBCC stated that development is necessary for the national capital. "Utmost care is being taken to protect the environment while redeveloping General Pool Residential Accommodation (GPRA) colonies in the national capital to utilise existing land resources in the most efficient manner and meet the growing demand for built-up space" - Mittal added.
The Delhi High Court made strong observations against such large-scale felling of trees, and the NBCC agreed to not cut any trees till the next hearing scheduled for 2 July. Meanwhile core group of environment enthusiasts have stated that the compensatory plantation will not solve the purpose if it is being done far away from the site the trees are felled. Also ornamental plants like palm in place of trees like Banyan, Peepal, Neem, Mango, Amaltas, Guava will not solve the issue.
"Can Delhi afford to cut of trees for the development of roads and buildings?" the court asked NBCC, the state-owned real estate company which is redeveloping the seven colonies. Meanwhile, the Delhi L-G Anil Baijal has stated that wrong impression is being made that he had ignored the objections of the environment minister Imran Hussain over felling of trees. "The proposal of felling of trees was fully endorsed by the minister" the statement said.