DESPITE the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court’s restriction on Railway Land Development Authority (RLDA) and contractors from felling trees in the Ajni Railway Colony area, the RLDA illegally felled around 300 trees in Jat Tarodi area in Ajni for infrastructure development. After getting information fromsome local residents, a group of green activists visited the spot where they found excavatorsremoving fallen trees with theirjaws. The activists stopped thework and informed the GardenDepartment of NagpurMunicipal Corporation (NMC) of the illegal act. A team of Garden Departmentvisited the spot and conducted panchanama.

 

Thereafter, NMCregistered a First InformationReport (FIR) against RLDA for theact. For conservation of biodiversity in Ajni Railway Colony area, green activists filled a public interest litigation (PIL) in High Court, demanding to stop felling of 181 trees in the Central Railway’s residential colony. The Nagpur bench demanded strict adherence to environmental regulations and warned against unauthorised destruction for redevelopment projects. “A case has been registered against Executive Engineer, Construction, of Central Railway in Imambada Police Station for illegally cutting of around 300 trees by or side.

 

We registered this FIR after conducting panchanama of the site where we found hundreds of trees felled with the help of excavators without any our permission,” Amol Chourpagar, Garden Superintendent, NMC told The Hitavada. National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) had plans to develop Inter Model Station (IMS) in Ajni Railway Colony and for that the implementing agency felled hundreds of trees. To save the biodiversity there, citizens came forward and raised voice against the mass tree-felling. After High Court’s intervention, the tree-felling was restricted. “Despite court’s restriction, this massive tree-felling raised question over the intention of RLDA. It is a complete matter of contempt of court,” said Anasuya Kale Chhabrani, green activist and petitioner of the case. “The police should take action against responsible officers and the contractor for felling of such a massive trees in Ajni Railway Colony,” said Chhabrani.