1,670 trees were chopped in Ridge: FSI tells top court

How many trees felled?

- Abraham Thomas

NEW DELHI: The Forest Survey of India (FSI) has told the Supreme Court that its first scientific study about the number of trees felled by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in the Delhi Ridge has been quantified at 1,670, disputing the earlier figures of 745 cited by the Delhi forest department and 642 claimed by DDA and repeated in the lieutenant governor's affidavit to the court.

In its report submitted before a bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud in a contempt petition pending against the DDA vice chairman, the FSI said, "As estimated by FSI, total number of trees felled are 1,136 trees inside recorded forest area (RFA) and 534 trees outside RFA." This adds up to 1,670 trees, more than double the figure claimed by the Delhi forest department (DFD) and DDA.

FSI said that the authorities "grossly underreported" on the felling of trees carried out in February this year for the construction of a road project in Satbari.

The FSI report, a copy of which HT has seen, said, "These differences clearly indicate that the number of trees proposed for felling and number of trees actually felled were grossly underreported. Similarly, the number of trees reported to be felled is less than half the number estimated by FSI." According to DFD, 523 trees inside RFA and 222 trees outside RFA were cut.

The top court in May this year directed FSI to conduct a scientific study to ascertain the number of trees while hearing a contempt petition filed by a Delhi resident Bindu Kapurea. The petition claimed more than 1,100 trees were cut. However, DDA denied this claim.

Last month, the top court sought an authenticated report from the Delhi lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena, who is the chairman of DDA, on the information within his knowledge about the exact timing of felling of trees and whether he was aware that the cutting of trees required prior permission from the court.