UP disputes FSI findings on 'excessive' tree felling

UPPER GANGA CANAL ROAD PROJECT

- Peeyush Khandelwal

The Uttar Pradesh government, in a compliance report submitted before the National Green Tribunal (NGT), has denied the findings of an earlier Forest Survey of India (FSI) report which alleged that tree-felling occurred beyond the permitted 20-metre right-of-way for the 111-kilometre Upper Ganga Canal road project.

The report, uploaded by the tribunal on July 11, was submitted by the state government on May 21 and is based on an investigation conducted by additional principal chief conservator Lalit Kumar Verma. The tribunal is currently hearing the matter after taking cognisance of an HT report dated February 1, which revealed that the UP forest department had allowed the felling of around 112,722 trees and shrubs in protected forest areas across Ghaziabad, Meerut, and Muzaffarnagar divisions to construct two lanes of the proposed road.