Deconcretisation not undertaken in 3 Delhi colonies: NGT told

The National Green Tribunal was today told that civic agencies directed by it to deconcretise trees in the national capital have not undertaken the work in various localities.
A bench, headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar, was apprised of the situation by local commissioners appointed by the Tribunal to inspect three Delhi colonies as to whether trees there have been deconcretised or not and the concrete has been removed from the sites.
In their report, the local commissioners (LC), advocates Amit Verma and Subhashish Mohanty said they had visited Hauz Khas, R K Puram and Ashok Vihar areas and on inspection of trees there found that in most places "no work whatsoever with regards to deconcretisation had been undertaken".

The commissioners, who visited various sectors of R K Puram, noted in their report that at several locations "upon scrutiny of the trees in the areas, heavy volumes of concrete was found in the roots of the trees...".
Their report also said "complete compliance was not done by the respondents as tiles were left behind after being removed and at a large number of places trees had been missed out".
With regard to Ashok Vihar, the commissioner's report said "an inspection of the aforesaid area revealed that no deconcretisation activities were undertaken by the respondents in the areas visited by the commissioners.

"On the contrary, at one stretch, fresh pavement was being laid by PWD and the pavements did not leave any area for the trees as mandated by this Tribunal. In fact, the tiles which were being laid on the pavement were put after layers of concrete were being applied on and around the trees in the area."
The report also said that "at several places one square feet area around the trees had been dug lower than the road level and then covered with concrete. The mud was lying around this portion to cover it up and make it superficially appear as if mud soil was present around the trees.