NEW DELHI: The Central Public Works Department may have to plant extra trees beyond compensatory afforestation as a penalty for violating the Delhi government’s green policy while undertaking the new Parliament building project. If the permission is sanctioned by the environment and forest minister, it would be perhaps the first such case under the tree transplantation policy.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia heads the forest department in Delhi. As per the policy unveiled in October last year, at least 80% of trees that stand in potential project sites have to be transplanted while construction agencies should ensure that 80% of the trees survive after being relocated.
The CPWD was given permission in October to remove 404 trees from the site of the new Parliament building and transplant them in eight pockets in the Central Vista area. But, officials said, the forest department found that the CPWD had not followed one of the main rules of tree transplantation — relocating the trees at the designated spot.
“Permission was given for transplanting trees at a specific location. We have found that the CPWD violated the condition. Although tree transplantation happened, but it was not at the location for which permission was granted,” said a senior forest official. The CPWD will now have to plant more trees than the earlier agreed upon number for the new Parliament building project.
“The file in this regard was forwarded to the minister of forest and environment for final approval to impose the penalty which we have proposed for the violation by the CPWD in the project,” the official said. The forest department had sent a show-cause notice seeking explanation from the central agency as to why trees removed for the Parliament project was not relocated in the Central Vista area.