NGT orders action against Una resident for hill cutting

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, September 1

In an order passed on August 27, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Himachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board (HPSPCB) authorities to take punitive action against Indu Walia, a resident of Una, for levelling a hillock on Una-Nangal national highway and causing damage to environment by illegal cutting of trees.

The HPSPCB has also been directed to determine environmental compensation for the damage caused due to illegal cutting of trees and recover it from Indu Walia within a period of three months. The board has also been directed to take punitive action for restoration of environment after the damage caused due to illegal felling of trees.

The NGT order came on a petition moved by Bhavak Parasher, a resident of Ambota village in Una district. In his petition, Parasher had alleged that Indu Walia, owner of land measuring 7.7 hectares (206 kanals) in Mahalat village in Una had removed the mountain top in the area using bulldozers and loaders and changed it to a plateau. He had alleged that the muck from levelling of the hill top had been buried across the streams and at the bottom of the hill. He also alleged that the owner of the land had uprooted centuries-old core zones of biospheres, changed and damaged the hilly topography of the area.

The complainant also said that the respondent had sold 18 plots measuring 500 square metre each registering these with the Himachal Pradesh Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (HPRERA), violating the provisions of the act.

The respondent, Indu Walia, maintained before the NGT that she was developing the land for personal use. She claimed that the land in question was her personal property and not a forest land. There were no mountains or hilly tops as claimed by the complainant. She claimed that it was within her rights to level her own land for development as per law. “I started developing the land prior to 2011,” the complainant said.

In its report submitted before the tribunal, the joint committee appointed by the NGT claimed that 130 trees of japani toot were felled on the land in question and the Forest Department had recovered an amount of Rs 1,01,000 as penalty from the offenders. The member secretary of Special Area Development Authority (SADA) of Una said the site in question was levelled on an average 6 to 8m against the maximum hill cut allowed in the state of 3.5m. In its report, the HPSPCB claimed that the owner of the land had not applied for the board’s consent for construction of the project.