No action in tree felling case in Amritsar despite activist’s plea

Even after six long months, no action has been taken on a complaint regarding unauthorised cutting of trees in a residential area of Amritsar, exposing the apathy and bureaucratic delay within the city’s administrative machinery. A local social activist, Anil Khanna, continues to run from pillar to post, urging action against those responsible, but his repeated efforts have only been met with silence, indifference and endless forwarding of complaints.

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On January 16 this year, Khanna filed an online complaint with the Commissioner of Police, Municipal Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner regarding the illegal felling of trees in a park at Katra Moti Ram. He alleged that mature trees were chopped and the wood was taken away from the site. However, instead of redressing the grievances promptly, the complainant has spent the last six months moving from one department to another, with no one taking responsibility.

According to Khanna, more than 18 officers have handled the complaint, but none have taken concrete action. “Initially, there was no response. Then the officers simply started forwarding the email from one desk to another,” he said.

The Deputy Commissioner’s office uploaded the complaint on the Punjab Government Grievance Portal, which was then forwarded to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests. On February 3, the Chief Conservator of Forests resolved the complaint with a remark that the location does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Forest Department, yet he did not forward it to any relevant authority. As a result, the complaint was marked “resolved” without any ground action, further misleading the system with incorrect closure status.

Anil Khanna filed an appeal on March 17 this year again. Since then, the appeal has been in a never-ending loop of bureaucratic forwarding, passed among officers in the Department of Local Government at least 18 times. Still, no accountability has been fixed, and no investigation has been initiated on the ground.

“It’s become a joke. These officials are experts in forwarding complaints. They treat this like a game, passing the file without resolution. Nobody is serious about protecting the city’s green cover,” Khanna remarked.

In his latest effort, Khanna has now written directly to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, seeking his intervention. “All these officers are being paid for lip service. Kindly look into the matter and fix responsibility with a time-bound action plan,” he wrote.