ROURKELA: A petition has been filed in a Rourkela court challenging the legality of forest department’s permission to the National Institute of Technology (NIT-R) to fell 1,872 trees for campus expansion and seeking to restrain the institute from proceeding with the action.
Admitting the petition on Wednesday, the court of the Civil Judge (Senior Division), issued notices to 11 opposite parties, including NIT-R, the Rourkela divisional forest officer (DFO) and the Sundargarh collector, directing them to appear and file their show-cause replies by July 7.
The petitioners had sought an ex parte ad-interim injunction to maintain status quo, but the court decided to provide the opposite parties an opportunity to be heard before passing any order.
The petition was filed by Delhi High Court advocate and Sundargarh native Bashistha Ray (45), along with Rourkela-based advocates RK Singh (67) and SK Pradhan (50). They questioned the legality of the permission granted by the DFO for felling trees on land earmarked for the construction of a new Civil Engineering department building at NIT-R.
Arguing against the proposed tree felling, the petitioners contended that the removal of 1,872 trees would have serious environmental consequences for Rourkela, including a rise in temperature, loss of biodiversity, reduced carbon sequestration, deterioration in air quality and ecological imbalance.
They further alleged that during 2025-26, around 4,000 trees had already been felled on the campus for infrastructure projects and other purposes, while compensatory plantation was undertaken for only 9,970 trees. The fresh felling of 1,872 trees, they argued, would cause further irreparable and irreversible environmental damage.
NIT-R plans to construct a new Civil Engineering department building with a total plinth area of 28,000 square metres. In the first phase, construction covering 16,000 square metres is proposed at an estimated cost of `91 crore.
NIT-R registrar Rohan Dhiman said the institute had applied for permission to fell trees at the project site in accordance with prescribed guidelines. He said the required approval was received from the forest department in May. However, neither tree felling nor construction activities have commenced so far, he added.
