SC chides Agra forest department over wrong affidavits

The Supreme Court on Monday slammed Agra's district forest department for filing affidavits with false information about the number of trees planted in the eco-sensitive Taj Trapezium Zone.

On Monday, a two-member committee presented its report to the apex court, pointing out how the state government had claimed planting 15,000 trees but on physical verification the information was found to be incorrect.

The Supreme Court had directed the Uttar Pradesh government to plant 2.58 lakh trees in stages to make up for the loss of green cover due to various developmental projects.

A bench of Justices T.S. Thakur and C. Nagappan noted: "We had some kind of hunch and our hunch has been proven correct. Money is being eaten away and no plantation is being done. It has become a fertile ground for corruption. You are not following our order on forestation."

The bench was clearly unhappy with the casual manner in which documents had been filed with wrong information. It found a huge gap between the target and the actual number of trees planted.

The Taj Trapezium Zone spread over 10,040 sq km, is an eco-sensitive area with more than 40 ASI protected monuments including three world heritage sites.

The apex court has been monitoring the follow-up action on the directives flowing from the PIL filed by eco-lawyer M.C. Mehta way back in 1984.

Agra district forest officer Lalit Verma, who had filed the wrong affidavits in the apex court, was suspended by the state government some months ago.

Thousands of trees have been felled in the Taj Trapezium Zone for road building in past few years, but trees have not been planted as was the commitment given in the Supreme Court while seeking permission.

Thousands of trees were felled for the Yamuna Expressway. Presently thousands of trees have been chopped off for widening the Delhi-Agra national highway.

The work is in progress, but we have never been given the information where compensatory plantation work has been done, said eco-activist Shravan Kumar Singh.

"Now the state government has begun work on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway by chopping trees and cleaning up the green cover. Environmental Assessment Impact hearings have not been held and there is no idea where new green patches would be developed to compensate for the loss of trees," said Surendra Sharma, a heritage activist in Agra.

"In Vrindavan and Goverdhan thousands of trees have disappeared making way for new cement structures. The mythologically important forests of Braj have turned grey and brown with high rise buildings," said activist Pavan Gautam of Mathura.