A FACT-FINDING panel has informed the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that over 17,600 trees have been felledin three Uttar Pradesh districts to make way for the upcoming Kanwar Yatra route. The tribunal was hearing a case relatedto the alleged fellingo fmore than 1 lakh trees and shrubs in the protected forest area across the three forest divisions of Ghaziabad, Meerut and Muzaffarnagar for the proposed route between Muradnagar in Ghaziabad and Purkaji in Muzaffarnagar.

 

In an order dated November 6, a bench of NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava notedthat a joint committee formed earlier to ascertain facts had submitted its interim report. The committee comprised the ForestSurveyofIndiadirector,aseniorscientistfromtheUnionMinistry ofEnvironmentForestandClimate Change, the State’s Chief Secretary orhis representative and the Meerut district magistrate. “The interim report states thatas per the information furnished by the Irrigation Department, 17,607 trees have been cut in all three districts till August 9, 2024,” said the bench, also comprising judicial member Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi and expert member A Senthil Vel.