NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal has formed a committee to obtain a factual report on the alleged illegal cutting of trees in a forest area in Gurugram by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
The green panel was hearing a petition claiming the NHAI while constructing a road on the new national highway -- 148NA (DND-Faridabad Ballabgarh bypass to KMP interchange stretch of Delhi-Vadodara-Mumbai expressway) -- covered a pond and also engaged in illegal felling of trees.
While the pond in Kiranj village was notified under the Haryana Pond Waste Water Management Authority Act, the forest area in Hazipur village was within the ambit of the social forestry scheme of Haryana's forest department, the petition claimed.
A bench comprising judicial member Justice Sudhir Agarwal and expert member A Senthil Vel said a 'substantial question' pertaining to the environment has arisen.
"But before taking any further action in the matter, we find it appropriate to obtain a factual report from concerned authorities, for which purpose, we constitute a joint committee comprising State Pollution Control Board, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Gurugram and District Magistrate, Gurugram," the bench said.
It said the joint committee would visit the site, collect relevant information and submit a detailed factual report along with an action taken report within two months.
"District Magistrate Gurugram will be the nodal agency for coordination and compliance," the bench said.
The matter has been posted for further proceedings on March 17. The petition sought appropriate action against the NHAI for violating the Forest (Conservation) Act besides directions for stopping the construction of the road raised on the pond and restoring the pond to its original shape.