Over half of Chandigarh under green cover: UT Admn to High Court

More than half the city is under green cover, the Punjab and Haryana High Court was told during a hearing on steps to enhance greenery in the region.

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A Division Bench of the High Court was also told that the Chandigarh Administration had planted 2.98 lakh saplings in the past financial year. Appearing before the Bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sudhir Singh, UT Additional Standing Counsel JS Chandail and Deputy Conservator of Forests Navneet Shrivastava submitted that 51 per cent of Chandigarh’s area was under green cover. “The Chandigarh Administration is sensitive about maintaining and increasing the green cover of the heritage city,” the Bench was told.

The court, during the course of hearing, also took note of the initiatives taken by Punjab and Haryana. The counsel appearing for Punjab submitted that a corpus of Rs 10 lakh had been created for “Nyay Vans” scheme for facilitating green cover within the state.

The Bench was also told that Haryana had notified “Van Mitra” scheme — a government initiative to encourage community participation in tree plantation activities on non-forest lands.

Acknowledging the efforts, the Bench expressed satisfaction with the measures being taken by the Chandigarh Administration, Punjab and Haryana.

“We are satisfied that efforts are being made by the States of Punjab and Haryana, as well as UT Chandigarh, to ensure maintenance and increase in green cover. We are hopeful that such efforts would continue to be made by Punjab and Haryana as well as UT in future as well.”

The suo motu PIL has its genesis in a Single Bench order in the case of “Hardeep Kumar Ranga versus State of Punjab and another” on the importance of afforestation in mitigating climate change and pollution.

“This court is of the considered opinion that in such cases and for the good of larger public, the parties can be burdened with nominal costs to plant trees bearing in mind the rising pollution levels, diminishing forest cover and notable changes in the climate, which require us to be more conscious of our environment and take active steps to mitigate the damage,” the Bench had observed.

The court had also directed the Principal Secretaries of Forest Departments in Punjab and Haryana and the Chief Conservator of Forests, UT Chandigarh, to suggest mechanisms to streamline the plantation process and ensure public convenience.