Floating timber logs: SC issues notice to Centre, Uttarakhand, Himachal, NHAI on illegal tree felling

Taking note of videos of timber logs floating in floodwaters, the Supreme Court on Thursday issued notices to the Centre, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Uttarakhand and others over illegal felling of trees in the Himalayan region.

"We have seen unprecedented landslides and floods in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. From the media reports, it is also noticed that in the flood, huge numbers of wooden logs were flowing along. Prima facie, it appears that there has been illegal felling of the trees which has been going on…," a Bench of Chief Justice of India BR Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran said.

“We have seen pictures of Punjab ... entire fields and crops are inundated. Development has to be balanced with mitigating measures," the CJI said, posting the matter for hearing after two weeks.

While hearing a PIL filed by environmentalist Anamika Rana highlighting environmental degradation in the Himalayan region, the CJI termed it “a very serious matter” and requested Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to ask the Union Environment Secretary to talk to chief secretaries of the states concerned to find out the truth.

Mehta assured the Bench that he will speak to the Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change today itself and ask him to get in touch with the chief secretaries of the states concerned.

"We have interfered with nature so much that nature is giving back now. I will speak to the secretary of the Environment Ministry and he will speak to Chief Secretaries. It cannot be permitted," Mehta said.

The petitioner’s counsel said there were 14 tunnels between Chandigarh and Manali which become near death traps during landslides caused by heavy rains. Citing a media report, he said 300 people had got stranded in the tunnel.

Besides the states of Himachal Pradesh Punjab and Uttarakhand and UT of Jammu and Kashmir, the top court also issued notices to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Union Ministry of Jal Shakti, National Disaster Management Authority, National Highway Authority of India.

In recent weeks, several videos of a large number of wooden logs floating downstream in the Ravi have gone viral, raising concerns about organised illegal felling of trees. In June also some videos of floating timber logs in the Pandoh Dam reservoir in Mandi district had appeared following flash floods in the Gadsa and Sainj valley of Kullu district

Rana has sought guidelines to prevent ecological disasters in the Himalayan region in view of recurring landslides, cloudbursts and flash floods in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Punjab, which have caused loss of life and property. The PIL also sought formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of experts to find out the reasons for such disasters and to determine how to preserve the delicate ecology of the Himalayan states.